#you can go on and on and on about how RT was a sinking ship these past several years

[dragonastra]

Hearing about Rooser Teeth's demise... admittedly I havent kept up with a lot of their content ever since they fired Matt Bragg. But the fact remains that I was a part of that community for several long years.

I made fanart. I made friends. My god, I made friends! Some of the closest friends I have we bonded through the AH/RT community or some branch of it. My current DnD group that streams on twitch, we were all connected to the community at one point, one way or another.

I attended RTX several times, which I maintain was a wholly unique experience unlike any anime convention I've also attended. I had so much fun in that community. I know RT has and had some problematic elements but it was also such a... force. I dont regret joining it. It got me into let's plays and streaming, it brought us RWBY which I still love despite everything and numerous other entertaining shows, and more importantly it made me laugh and connected me with friends.

To see it all dissolve so suddenly is... grief inducing. My heart definitely mourns. I've never been in another fandom community like it, and I dont know if I will again.

And of course, I hope the employees and contract workers affected can get back on their feet quickly. I cant imagine their position. Like the rug has been pulled from under their feet, I'm sure.

Just... yeah. Cowabummer, dude.

[littlemisssquiggles]

...So about the ORNJ_JNPR T-shirt thing...

daggerpawstudios asked

“Okay I am the only confused by all the hate that Oscar is getting right now because they dropped some new merch at the RT Store. I am not sure if you heard that Team JNPR got called Team ORNJ on the new shirt. I feel like this is kind of a mistake on the marketing team's part and not really CRWBY. But now a lot of people are attacking RG shippers and Oscar fans and I don't really understand because it seems more like fragile egos”

Squiggles Answers:

@daggerpawstudios​

Hey there Dagger. Well to be honest with you fam, this squiggle meister has sort of been out of the RWBY loop for the past few months. Got a work project so I haven’t been as active as I normally would be in my squiggle shire here on Tumblr.

Nevertheless, I did sort of know about the shirt thing. I first heard the news from a tweet from RWBY Youtuber Calxiyn it over on Twitter. I then saw RWBY Youtuber ThatKaitoDan mention Oscar replacing Jaune as leader of Team JNPR in his own tweet post as well but I didn’t know the full context of what he meant by that until you brought this to my attention.

I didn’t know that RT had actually listed the shirt as Team ORNJ which in their case is…well…a big OOF on their part. Personally, I don’t think this is something that folks in the FNDM should be making a big hullabaloo about. I think it’s an obvious PR mistake on the marketing department who run the RT store releases since no offense to RT and whoever is in charge of promotion on their online store but…their record of “getting things right” their store especially with the FNDM hasn’t exactly been squeaky clean in the past.

Besides, another obvious giveaway to me as to why I think it’s more likely to be a minor error is the very fact that Jaune’s silhouette is still first in line.

Think about it. If Oscar had really usurped Jaune as leader of the team then why isn’t his silhouette first in the line up? 

Isn’t it not a golden rule of thumb that the leaders of each huntsmen team always appear first in the team line-up whenever they do the silhouette thing as we’ve seen previously with teams like RWBY and even the Ace Ops? 

Anyone with decent vision can clearly see that that’s Jaune’s silhouette at the front of the line. Not Oscar. If Oscar was truly the new leader of the team then why is he the third silhouette? 

If thing had really turned ORNJ, then the order should be Oscar, Ren, Nora and finally Jaune. But as you can clearly see, the order is Jaune, Ren, Oscar and Nora.----THE SAME ORDER THAT WAS FEATURED IN THE VOLUME 7 OPENING! Or did folks…y’know…forget that? 

I know V7 ended earlier in the year but have folks forgotten the season already with its opening sequence? After Team RWBY, we got the JNPR 2.0 gang and the order in which JNR and Oscar appear matches the T-shirt with Jaune being first, then Ren, then Oscar and finally Nora. So there you go. 

So I wouldn't worry too much about that Dagger. I agree with you in thinking that it was a simple error made by the RT store. However, that being said, the other part about people stirring discourse over this and worst yet attacking the Pinehead and Rosegarden community over this…do I even need to say how silly that sounds.

Much like with the ridiculous discourse that arose after the small Rosegarden moment in V7CH9, this is yet another classic example of certain-certain folks literally scraping the bottom of the barrel and using any excuse they could find to harp on something they don't like while unfairly accosting the people who do.

I feel really bad for my fellow Pineheads, Rosegardeners and Rosegardening Pineheads who were victims of this time of foolishness. Because that's what this all sounds like to my ears. Foolish fools acting foolish yet again.

Seriously, what does Oscar as a character or even Rosegarden as a ship have to do with something that was posted by the RT store and is clearly an error made by the people who run it?

Are certain-certain folks truly that desperate to stir up drama and conflict that they would honestly seep so low as to use a T-shirt design as fuel for an easy argument?

The Pinehead, Rosegarden and Rosegardening Pinehead communities get enough flak as it is but this is just...beyond silly!

I'm not implying that the hate brigade should train their anger on RT but how silly can you be to take something as a T-shirt design to that level of seriousness? Especially when the design more or less outs its own error. Am I missing something here? Is there another unknown part to this where the CRWBY Writers came out and confirmed that this is legit? Because otherwise, this is just…so…LIKE SERIOUSLY DUDE?!

I like RWBY a lot and in spite of my own personal gripes and nit-picks with the direction of the show at times in terms of its writing and treatment of the characters and their respective relationships and arcs---in spite of all that, I still actively enjoy the show and I’m still invested in seeing where the CRWBY Writers take it to the very end. However I’d be lying if all the constant discourse from the more “toxic” side of FNDM isn’t slowly starting to chip away at my excitement for the series. I can live with RWBY having flaws but what I don’t need are folks constantly going out of their way to use any excuse they could to express their own personal gripes with show; going as far as to abuse others in the process. That kind of stuff isn’t cool and it’s not good to witness through the eyes of someone who wants to enjoy the show or is at least trying to...y’know what I mean?

When I first heard the news of the JNPR shirts, I was excited. Not only is this the first merch we’ve gotten of JNPR in some time but it’s also the second merch to feature Oscar.

In case folks don’t realize, Oscar doesn’t have a lot of his own merchandise sold by RT which sucks for us Pineheads.

At least the OG JNPR/JNR have a couple of merchandise (albeit not as popular or abundant as Team RWBY’s but still there). 

But Oscar…not so much and the same can be said for Ozpin too.  It took RT six whole seasons to release ONE T-SHIRT DESIGN with Oscar and Oz on the front and even that was sort of short-lived since I don’t see that shirt advertising in the store anymore. It’s always the same ole Team RWBY stuff.

So with that in mind, this shirt was a first and a given. It’s so great to see Oscar together with JNR on a shirt because in a way, it makes it more official that he is a member of their group especially for those of us who were rooting for this to happen since V5.

I still don’t think it means that he is the leader because as I’ll say again, look at the order on the shirt design. Oscar is third. Right where Pyrhha used to be. How can he be leader and be third in the line-up? Oscar is meant to replace Pyrhha, not Jaune. 

In the case of this whole ORNJ JNPR T-shirt scandal, I don’t understand how on Earth a clear marketing typo could reach as far as to spark discourse for a fictional character of a series, his fans and the fans of one of his ships? AGAIN!

What does Team JNPR (or whatever they will be called) being miswritten as Team ORNJ has to do with us Pineheads, Rosegardeners and Rosegardening Pineheads? How are we as a fan community responsible for an error made by RT?

Even if there are Pineheads who think this should be official--NOT speaking for myself here but I have seen other Pineheads express their desire to see Oscar lead JNPR for their own reasons---still, this is no excuse to harp on someone for liking it just because you don’t.

You’re right Dagger; this doesn’t make sense to me either.

All I can say is that it is what is it. Another example of certain-certain folks using any excuse to harp on something they don’t like while trying to drag others down with them and/or ruin their good vibes. 

Seriously these types of folks are honestly scraping at the bottom of the barrel. I’m surprised they’re still able to see after sinking so low with their foolishness. If that sounds a bit too harsh then sorry; not sorry. 

Ever since the whole discourse over the minor Rosegarden moment for V7CH9, I have lost all patience with these types of fans. I honestly find them to be as dumb as their behaviour and it exhausts me just hearing about them and their nonsense. 

Losing their marbles and attacking my people over a bloody T-shirt error that ain’t got nothing to do with us.

SO...DAMN...SILLY!

I hope RT clears this up at some point. And even if they don’t, I really don’t see why people should believe this means anything. I certainly don’t.

Not like I want that to happen either. In my opinion, I was never in favour of ORNJ---at least, not right now when Oscar is still a teenager growing into his duties and responsibilities as a huntsman. To me, I only like the idea of Team ORNJ from the perspective of Jaune retiring/stepping down from his role as leader of a huntsman team; instead choosing to pass the torch onto Oscar after the former farm boy had matured into a fine huntsman under his team’s guidance and after proving himself in the eyes of his teammates, especially Jaune. 

Y’know that kind of idea. 

This is why I always referred to JNR and Oscar as JNPR 2.0. I want JNR to become Oscar’s team and surrogate brothers and sister in arms. I want Oscar and Jaune to have a close big brother-little brother type of dynamic where Oscar admires Jaune’s strength and leadership and looks up to him alot as both a close confidant (much like Ruby) and teammate while Jaune himself admires Oscar’s tenacity after everything he’s been through while making it his role to look out for him along with Nora and Ren.  

This doesn’t mean I want Oscar to replace Jaune as team leader nor do I think he should.

I’ve heard some folks rationalize that Oscar should lead JNR since he is Ozpin’s successor. Nothing against the folks who like this concept but if I were to add my $2.50 to this, I don’t think Oscar being Oz’s successor should automatically qualify him to take over JNR; y’know what I mean?

Jaune earned his place as leader of JNPR after proving his talent for leadership back in V1. 

The only time that Jaune took a step back was when Ruby led the group as RNJR between V4 and V5 since at the time, the trio were aiding Ruby with her objective to get to Mistral, as Ren said. But even then, Jaune was still a leader and  backed up Ruby’s calls with his own strategies. 

Not to mention that folks seem to be forgetting that Ozpin was the one who chose Jaune to lead JNPR.

Though we never got a scene of Jaune confronting Oz on his decision to make him team leader like we did with Ruby Rose in “The Badge and the Burden” episode (I think that was the title. Correct me if I’m wrong), much like Ruby, Oz picked Jaune and was of sound mind when he did. Oz picked Jaune to lead since despite his past hiccups and shortcomings, he saw that Jaune also had the makings of a great leader as shown during JNPR’s first fight against the Deathstalker.

So the whole notion of Oscar getting to be leader of JNR  JUST BECAUSE he’s Oz’s successor EVEN THOUGH it was Oz’s decision to choose Jaune to be leader of JNPR in the first place---yeah that doesn’t sit right with me. 

Jaune is meant to be a leader and JNPR is his team to lead; even with Oscar joining it. Sorry ORNJ-fans. But that’s where I stand on that. 

Anyways, that’s all I have to say on this subject. I hope I answered you Dagger.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

[huntsman-ash]

RWBY LiveThoughts: V8E7

Since I finally have time for it today, lets make sure Im all caught up for the hiatus. 

Before we get fully started, an idea; Its not a war crime if they’re Grimm. Then its just self defense. So break out the napalm, the cluster bombs, the chemical weapons, the fun stuff. Make em regret it, yeah?

And we start off...on a farm. Looks like my moms old farm in South Dakota. Even on Remnant, hay is best used in bales.

Waiiiit. Thats the place the Whale set down isnt it. I see a Sayber running. Ah, and the Atlas military! Surely, the vanguard of a massive force to hold the line! Also Im glad to see a close up of the helmet for once, I want to make my own. Also, the gloves, and the rifle itself. Not sure why it doesnt have a stock, seems kind of silly...

And airships too, so they got some fire support...whats that wall behind them though?

Also it TOOK US 8 FUCKING SEASONS to get a close up of these FUCKING Weapons. 8. FUCKING. SEASONS. Okay maybe more like 5 cause they didnt first appear till 3 or so but come on. Im so picking this shit apart later. 

Pfft, bros got some nerves going on. Come on man, its just some Grimm, you’ll be FINE.

Atlas field harvesters resemble Halo’s JOTUN Farming equipment. As wel as our own. No surprise there.

Alright, bunch of Saybers, not seeing much of a threat here.

Hey, Paladins! Damn, they...look way different than I remember them to be. 

I wont lie, I dont like the Paladin design. Way to much visual noise, I cant tell where anything IS. 

Also that is the most 2D grass I have sever seen in my fucking life. What the hell are they growing here...

Huh, the whale has two sets of teeth. Wait, its just there? And its wpewing out Grimm. So...why isnt the air force firing on it? 

Yeah its not moving, its just raising its head and slamming down and vomiting out more Grimm. Im not sure what the issue is here, just...seal the mouth. 

Oh, huh. Apathys. Let me guess, RTs gonna try and tell us depression is going to kill most of Atlas. Oh for fuck sake. IM NOT IMPRESSED RT. IM REALLY NOT. IM MORE FUCKING ANNOYED THAN ANYTHING

Okay so...I see what this is. Its farm land outside of atlas proper and there’s an additional wall behind them, plus the power lines I guess? Seems like a viable place to make a stand. 

...thats it. Please tell me this is just a single detachment of the Atlas military because there is less firepower here than a NATIONAL GUARD UNIT ASSIGNED TO ONE CITY

Im fairly certain there are more people assigned to ONE UNIT attached to JBLM then I amm seeing here. 

Not to mention this is an OPEN FIELD the Grimm have to run through. This is a literall fucking TURKEY SHOOT. Running across an open field anywhere is a ticket to DYING.

Just ask the poor fucks on D-day.

Also uh...why is everyone in line formation? What is this, fuckin’ 18009s combat Napoleon style?

And did the distance suddenly change, I feel like the whale suddenly got a hell of a lot closer.

Just...I dont get this. This makes no sense. Did Ironwood learn how to deploy forces from a fairy tale book? This is legitimately some fuckin Lord of the Rings shit here.

RIP that one specific trooper hit by that Behemoth though. Dont worry friend, the thing walked next to a Paladin. Its getting its eye blasted out

And cut back to Ironwood. Doing...fuck if I know what.

Staring angrily it seems.

“Dammit, my tactical deployment by line formation and parade ground tactics isnt holding back the Grimm, curses!”

Well MAYBE IF YOUD THOUGHT TO INVEST IN SOME FUCKING AIR SUPPORT...Seriously.

I know people have told me why this is. I understand myself why this is. But it really just...does...not...jibe with me. At all. 

Okay so more details; first, apparently Atlas has a subway. Makes sense, its a big island. Inter-system transits probably a given. Second; Was that Mantis Squad Omega? Some kind of unit maybe...interesting.

 Also I love how this guy just questions Ironwood. Like, bro, if the General says do it, do it.

Hold the fuck up, why is everyone outside? It looks like fuckin’ Cali during our lockdowns...what ever happened to martial law huh?

Also “underground subway stations”. Yes, thats...kind of what a subway IS. I guess maybe they have overhead ones like New York does. Mass transit be weird like that.

I mean HELL the signs on it are almost identical to the ones in NYC too! Even with the colored circles and train cnumbers. 

According to the sign here they’re at Pickens Square Station. 

Oh boy. Ironwood just fed these poor bastards into a meat grinder. Anyone here ever played the Metro game series, or read the books?

Remember the Dark Ones? The Nosallias? Yeah. Tight corridors and monsters only work out well for angry vodka fueled Russians.

Didnt see it very well but I THINK those Mantas had some kind of wing gun. Either thats new, a separate armament setting, or RT forgot what ind of weapons they gave their ships AGAIN.

Cant get the shields back up, yeah, no shit, they DETACHED ONE OF THE FUCKING PILOTS YOU IDIOTS.

Also hah, they arrested Yang, Ren and Jaune. Not surprised.

Beta squads apperently been hitting the whale. ‘Bombs, missiles, we cant make a dent, sir.” ...while Im not surprised by this, I also hear shades of the opening of Halo 2s level Metropolis. “Where’s the rest of your platoon?” “Wasted, sarge. Blew right through us. Rockets, fifty cals, didnt do nothing.”

Honestly they could have SHOWED THAT too. Them just saying it feels like a cop out to me. Take that as you will. But if you want us to see the things hard to kill, show it. 

Not that I figure Atlas’s rockets are much more than Dust in a propellent tank. Not exactly a Hellfire or TOW.

Nice to see proper military talk for...a moment anyway.

Or what I figure RT figures is proper.

Oh so now the whales moving. Okay...huh.

Jaunes commentary is the same as mine. Though I guess the size seems to shift depending.

Ohhh. Its MANTA. As in the gunships. Alright, sure that works. And this guys making a good call. If you cant hit the big one go after the smaller. Of which there seems to be a HELL of a lot. Actually holy fuck that Grimm spew is across like...ahlf the fucking island right now. Time to fuckin torch and burn people.

Ahhhhhh and they get to the proper idea.  If you cant punch it from the outside, hit it from the inside.

I knew a crew...three madmen, names of Keegan, Lahni and Mac. The Hivebusters. Something tells me a Venom bomb would do the trick...if it can rip apart Swarm creatures as big as a Snatcher or a Swarmak and reduce them to green slime, I think it’ll work on Grimm. 

Something tells me RT isnt gonna give em a bomb though. Too obvious.

NEVER MIND. “Science team is putting together a bomb.”

Also I LOVE how Winter’s pupils expand and retract in fear as she realizes what Ironwoods asking her to do.

Awww now shes getting the shakes too.

Salem directing this shit like shes some kind of orchestra leader. I mean it FITS but...I dunno.

Ah so the command deck is directly behind the whale’s glowing nose. Basically inside where the spermacetiy organ would be in a real sperm whale.

What the fuck is Emerald doing there?

Sneaking I guess. Huh. Why’s she sneaking around the whale. Also, huh. guess seeers can get fooled by Emeralds semblance.  Is HE STILL BEATING UP ON OSCAR? Jeez dude. Take a breather.

Honestly if this was TRUE I would be okay with it. Replace the Huntsman with, I dont know, a massively overequipped military for each Kingdom, let them run rampant...stomp the Grimm out or push them back to nonexistence...everyone lives happily ever after

Lets be real here, the idea of the academies? Really really fucking dumb. Its cute. Fairy tale like.

But if theres one thing this show has taught me its that fairy tales SUCK. Reality...tends to be worse.

Ah theres one of those torture hooks they mentioned a few episodes back. Nice of the whale to have a specific interrigation room.

And at last we get some information on how Salem works. Alright so...what happens if you seperate the parts then? Sink one in the ocean, launch one into space.

Sounds like Oz/Oscars telling the fans what we’ve been saying forever, Companion Book be damned; Salem wants to die.

These mind games bore me. Its cute, but I dont like it cause I cant follow that shit. Give me a straight up fight any day, fuck this sublty backroom fuckery

No lies from them both here honestly.

Medical supplies in Atlas seem almost the same as here on earth interestngly. Also, soup. Or...coffee, tea?

Blake with the obvious here. But I mean thats not really saying much cause...well. Not hard to outfight the Atlas military it seems like.  (Long suffering sigh)

Im gonna make a seperate post about my frustrations with that and leave it there. But dont expect me to stop fully complaining about it because everyones gotta have something to bitch about with this show, and I’ll be DAMNED if I start joining the BB whiners.

Good question, Ruby. Might be that YOUR NOT LIVING IN A FAIRY TALE

I’d like to see these people dying in Mantle. I refuse to believe that there isnt SOMEONE in the nation that once brought Remnant to its heel that wont stand and fight. Unless Im wrong about that too...

May backstory? May backstory. Yeah.  Not amazingly complicated but it works. Cant tell if shes Henry though...or was. 

Dramatic lightning flash

Cute you think that Ruby. Theres sides. Always are.

Further proof honestly.

Hazels look of though is amusing. Cant tell if he doesnt believe Oscar, or if his tiny peabrain is runing full bore to think this through.

Coordination between farm boy and professor.

Oh. OHHHH. Plants the seed of doubt in Hazels tiny mind, he uses the last question for himself, sees the truth... Clever, Oscar. Clever.

Hazel peabrain go THUNK

Ah so Mercs going off to Vacuo. Guess that means everyone else is going there next too. Eat that, random Discord person, I called it.

Course, CFVYs there so...maybe we get to see Yats beat up on him.

Oh hi Tyrian. Do you just...randomly roam the halls of the whale waiting to DRAMATICALLY REVEAL YOURSELF and give violent expositon? Im very much okay with that.

Also I love how he just...accepts this. Totally fucking bonkers, totally down with it. 

Oh shit, Tyrian and Mercury going to Vacuo? Damn thats gonna be INTERESTING. I guess Tyrian’ll fit in well enough honestly.

Flying Beringal literally out of the roof. 

I remember back when this season first started and I said those weird bone platforms looked like VTOL launch bays. Guess what? They are.

Merc and Em emotion blah blah DONT CAAARRREEE

Jaune thinking tactically for ONCE IN HIS FUCKING LIFE. An I mean military tactical of course.

Also I like how the Aces say they dont let emotions cloud their shit WHEN THEYVE BEEN DOING THAT THE WHOLE FUCKING TIME.

This ENTIRE PLANET is emotionally run. Thats why the Grimm are such an issue! Makes small note to make Remnant Adeptus Mechanicus cult

Seriously though...

I wont lie though, Hare isnt wrong. Wonder what happened to that Tortuga guy. Tyrian, is my guess. Love how Ren interrupts the moment they almost mention Clovers name.

Expendable, yes. Replacable, no. You should have a talk with squadron leader Grey from Star Wars Squadrons Ren

ANNNNDDD SEMBLANCE EVOLUTION. Or the edibles just kicked in.

This is cool and all but its really fucking dumb and hamfisted. Explain all you want. Mention emotions all you want.

The Aces are fucking huntsmen. HUNTSMEN. FUCKING. SUCK. They always have. Its a dumb idea. Yes, lets stop the hordes of monsters invading this world BY SENDING IN SINGLE OPERATIVES WITH FUCKING MELEE WEAPONS

I’ll make this clear to you, Ren, right here and now. If you faced a REAL elites, you wouldnt have stood a chance. Nor would RWBY. Their bodies would have been three-shot from 20 meters out with a breach and clear and stacked against the wall like cords of wood, one final shot to the dome to make dead sure they were down. None of this stupid flipping and acrobatic crap, none of this clashing weapons and Dust and semblances...no. 

You’d be dead before you knew they were there and they would move on. You’d just be another body to the pile, one more faceless corpse to add to their kill count. A meatgrinder in human form. 

Professionals. Dont. Lose. AND THE ACES ARE NOT PROFESSIONALS!

Because thats not what RWBYs about, never has been.  And that is what annoys me slightly. That and the fact I cant distangle what I know of other universes and our own from RWBY’s. Its hard to hold a universe on its own when everything they make points towards it being like ours, but they change it when they see fit. 

I feel like thats bad writing.

Hehehe. Winter touched Elms boob.

Glad to know that Winters got her priorities right. Course, that bomb probably aint gonna do shit cause its Dust based.

...again, hoping its a chemical weapon...

Wait, the Atlas forces from earlier are STILL FIGHTING? Damn, these Grimm must suck if they couldnt wipe them out in that little time...

Also I cant tell if its getting dark cause of the storm or if its the dawn of the next day.  Or did...they shift time around? I lost track. I SWORE the sun was setting the last time we saw everything.

Also return of the shitty 3D grass...

Marrows gonna defect.

Awww poor Winters got emotions. HEY MAYBE DONT SEND A MENSTRATING WOMAN OUT ON A FIELD OP, ATLAS!

So according to May there’s still front lines. Cool. 

AYYY ITS KLIEN! HES BACK

Oh, I guess hes a doctor too. Oh he MAD.

Ayyy Whitleys being USEFUL for fucking once in his shitty life.

Shes gonna hug him isnt she.

CALLED IT. For fuck sake...whatever. Cute. But whatever.

Oh annnnddd now Grimmquake?

No. It stopped...Bolide?

No. PENNY.

Annnnddd shes leaking coolant. And sparking. And dead.

RIP Penny.

The concept art of the beached whale looks so fucking silly. Seriously, just...detach the whole section there. Drop the fucking thing. 

Oh well.

And thats it for almost two months! Be prepared for me to BULLSHIT MY WAY THROUGH ALL OF IT and continue on with my military fanwank because THATS HOW IM SURVIVING 2020!

[kob131]

https://rwdestuffs.tumblr.com/post/625278536172879872/done-dirty-shipping

Maybe it’s because I’m still not over how the writers just up and offed Clover and are trying to use the ship he had with Qrow for marketing purposes, but still.- If they hadn’t done that, maybe there wouldn’t be as much backlash for what they did?

*looks behind Dudeblade to see all the Arkos shippers still trying to burn RT to the ground for sinking their ship.*

I highly doubt that.

They promoted Qrover (And that’s the name I’ll be using to avoid getting into the proper ship tags) for the sake of merchandise. They do the same with Blang (The name I’ll be using for the Blake x Yang ship to avoid getting into their tags as well), it simply seems as if these ships are just there to keep an audience invested in the show for the hope that their ship will become canon before the final episode of the series.

Ah huh-

Let’s check RT’s merch store shall we?

https://store.roosterteeth.com/collections/rwby

This is the store showcasing RWBY merch by the ‘Featured’ selection. Notice something...unusual?

Yeah, the front page of their ‘featured’ section (which would tell you how they market the show) has three pieces of possible shipping merch...and it’s Renora and White Rose. NOT Bumbleby OR Fair Game. And I do mean ‘possible’ because one could debate that since Ren and Nora are always paired together and considering White Rose is so ignored by the fandom equally ‘shippy’ moments are widely ignored- it’s not inherently romantic.

In fact, none of the three given pages have Bumbleby merch. The closest is the Yang Vs. Adam hoodie...which excludes BLAKE. SO it’s closer to Yang X Adam merch.

But maybe that’s not enough for you. Let’s switch to the ‘Best Selling’ selection. Of that we have...one shippy piece of merch. The same Renora piece from before. Odd, considering if they’re using shipping to sell the show: Why isn’t the merch, the open support of the show, flooded with shipping merch? Why is both the stuff they are pushing people to buy AND the stuff people are buying NOT showing up?

Seems rather counter intuitive ...unless they AREN’T doing that.

This post was made about a month after the finale. If miles pulls the same thing that LoK did with the LGBT+ characters in his show, not only is that hypocritical (As he would be doing the exact same thing that LoK did), but it would also be significantly worse.

Actually he fundamentally can’t. Because Miles wrote in at least three LGBT characters already into the show. So he’s being better by your standards.

Not only was LoK screwed by the network numerous times in regards to their budget, but they were also forced to not make the relationship between Korra and Asami as overt as they would have liked.

And so was RWBY screwed with budget AND resources by Gray. Andd yet no word from you on that...

And again- Already showed at least three characters being lesbians, if not five since Scarlet and Nolan are gay in Before The Dawn, a book written under Miles and Kerry’s supervision.

What network is keeping the writers from doing the same thing with stuff like Blang, Qrover, or whatever the ship name is for Terra and Saphron? Why do they only get hand holding, soft looks™, and confirmation outside of the canon show?

Bumbleby- Canonical status unconfirmed.

Fair Game- Never intended to be a ship. It was just a reference to the waitress back in Volume 4 along with the usual shipping exaggeration.

Terra X Saphron- They literally have a fucking child together.

Other shows like She-Ra, Steven Universe, and Black Lightning managed to have LGBT+ Representation in their shows despite the networks trying to reign them in. So a show that has no such restrictions can’t do it because…?

They have. You’re choosing to ignore it.

To say nothing of the quality of these since Steven Universe is the only respected one and is rather unique in comparison.

Nora and Pyrrha can forcibly kiss Ren and Jaune respectively, but Same-Sex couples have to settle for elementary-school crush stuff?

Terra and Saphron have a fucking kid. And two of your examples are bullshit.

Meanwhile, how are those ships fairing again? ... One is permenantly sunk and wasn’t even confirmed considering Jaune’s feelings for Pyrrha are not confirmed to be romantic and the other is having massive issues that could sink any romantic connections?

And how do people like you react to any kind of strife regarding same sex stuff? ... Called Illa a psycho lesbian despite being significantly more stable, regretful and safer than her straight counterpart Adam?

Yeah, why don’t YOU tell me why a fanbase known for being abusive towards the creators and hounded them for YEARS about this shit isn’t being fed?

Also, this is a dick move. $16.00 for a sunk ship? Not only that, it’s a sunk mlm ship. A kind of representation that hasn’t gotten any real representation outside of Scarlet? And even then, that was confirmed in a different book.

More like a set of pins that can be used for cosplay.

TBH, mlm shippers have every right to be upset about this.

Straight shippers have had the biggest ship sunk and permanently in limbo (Arkos) and the second one is going through a massive rough patch (Renora) while the third and fourth are regularly decried as pedophilia (Lancaster and Rose Garden) if not outright abuse (Tauradonna).

The others get confirmed ships but not the ones they wanted. Boo fucking hoo.

Whether the writers intended to or not, Qrover was coded, and they queerbaited.

Queerbaiting is a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment[6] in which creators hint at, but then do not actually depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ representation.[7] They do so to attract ("bait") a queer or straight ally audience with the suggestion of relationships or characters that appeal to them,[8] while at the same time attempting to avoid alienating other consumers.[6][9]

They literally CANNOT do that by definition. There are same sex relationships AND characters to connect to. If you try promoting this vague and broad definition of queerbaiting-

Well, what’s to stop the Snowbird shippers from claiming they were straight baited with Winter and Qrow or Blake and Sun?

Do you REALLY want to cross that threshold?

P.S. ‘Coding’ effectively means ‘I see stereotypes’ so you’re kind of being a douchebag here.

Let’s also remember that Pyrrha’s entire existence literally revolved around Jaune and she was meant to die to further his development. Jaune x Pyrrha was literally made to develop Jaune and pretty much only Jaune, with the other characters’ reaction to her death being an afterthought.

*cough* Ruby has gotten more development from Pyrrha’s death than Jaune *cough* 

Then there was also that one Blang bag that cost like… $60.00. The writers are using these popular ships for merchandising usage and to try and reel in fans who are wlw or mlm with these ships.

Which is why they...don’t...show...up on...the...merch store...

Fun Fact: Dudeblade never shows the so called 60 dollar bag despite CLEARLY being able to screen shot images. So we’re expected to take his word for it despite not being honest in this very video.

They didn’t even have enough self-awareness to feel bad about it.

So how exactly are we supposed to trust them when they don’t realize what they did to the community?

He says as he ignores aspects of LGBT rep in RWBY, outright called a lesbian a psycho for daring to be an antagonist despite a much more unstable person to compare to and ignores the LGBT rep in other RT shows, including Camp Camp which has two heroic gay married men in the show.

Whether you ship Qrover or not, this was a massively dick move to pull. And these idiots have a lot of things to make up for it. If they choose to do it at all.

You know, that dick move you forced onto them.

And yet you doing worse (’Hey when is Miles gonna die so he can be replaced?’) deserves no making up?

Where were the guys who said that revealing that Pilot Boi was gay before offing him was a bad idea? Why did the writers not realize that this sort of stuff was going to come off as queerbaiting?

Probably because Eddy did it himself and didn’t know about this.

But really… Way to go RT. Your dumbass decision has now turned off members of the LGBT Community and caused some of them to cancel their subscriptions.

Hope that shock value was worth it.

Just like with Pyrrha, something you yourself even said before.

I fail to see how this is RT’s fault outside ‘you dared to exercise free will!’ considering that your logic would dictate changing the show the minute an LGBT ship becomes popular.

Even as you’ve spoken out against this kind of thing with Death Battle (accusations of sexism).

Way to go with the hypocrisy Dudeblade.

[programaticallydelicious]

What’s the opposite of a hardcore game?

So I’m sure you can think of a couple of “hardcore” games off the top of your head. Dark Souls and Bloodborne are probably near the top for a lot of you. What defines those is an argument for someone else, and has been made a multitude of times.

I’m here to talk about their opposite. A lot of people, when asked what the opposite of a “hardcore” game is, would immediately jump to “Casual”. Something like Bejeweled, or Angry Birds. That...isn’t exactly correct. Casual games are targeted at people who can’t sink a great deal of time into a game in one sitting, A few minutes here, a few there, maybe an entire hour sometime. And with how the “casual” market is mixing in paid mechanics on mobile, there’s an argument to be had for them being an entirely different form of hardcore.

But I digress.

What is the opposite of a “hardcore” game? Is it an easy game? Maybe, maybe not. Is it a simple one? Not necessarily. Is it forgiving? Potentially. The opposite of a hardcore game is one that gives the reins to the player, and lets them control their own experience. I, personally, have never been one for hardcore games in the way the term gets bandied about. I don’t like games punishing me for my poor reaction time and variable coordination.

I like games that let me choose how to proceed. And to give a good idea of what I mean, I’m going to go through my steam library (not all 800+ games of it, just the ones with at least 60hrs of playtime), and explain exactly what they did that ensured they weren’t hardcore.

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (751 hrs)

Unsurprising, and easy to explain. Bethesda games, in general, give the player as much control as possible. Want to do the main quest? Have at it, nothing can stop you and if something does, just pull up the console and nuke it to death with the kill or disable commands. Don’t like something? Modding can fix it. Want something you don’t or can’t have? Modding can fix it. Want to shoot something? You can! Stab them? Sure! Want to pretend quests don’t exist and live as a hermit in the woods? I’ve done it!

I think you get the picture.

2. Fallout 4 (663 hrs)

Do you need to ask? Look above, I explained it there. Also, the VATS system is actually surprisingly cool to play with, and I really, really enjoy waltzing around overleveled in tricked out power armor as everything the bad guys throw at me winds up just plinking off and maybe killing them for me.

3. EVE Online (500 hrs (logged on Steam, at any rate))

This can’t be right, can it? The MMO known mostly for having a learning curve so steep it‘s a cliff with an overhang? Not hardcore? I’ve gotta be high!

No, it isn’t hardcore. EVE gives the player a fantastic amount of control over their experience. You can pick what skills to learn, what kinds of ships to fly, whether to produce, raid, lead, gather, trade, or mission run. Personally, I racked up most of these hours about ten years ago when I was doing a lot of asteroid mining on a second screen while working on stuff in college. It was slow, relaxing, and impressively predictable overall.

4. Starbound (214 hrs)

I have a love-hate relationship with this one. I racked up most of that playtime in the early beta, when the mechanics were wonky and unbalanced and the playstyle was still being worked on. I can’t enjoy this game anymore, because all I want to do is find a pretty planet and build a base I like on it. But the prettiest planets are pretty good at killing you, and the best materials to build with are rare, in places good at killing you, or incredibly expensive. I could build safely on a barren world, but...it’s a barren world.

5. Terraria (166 hrs)

I love this game, I really do. But I can’t play it with other people. I like having a safe home, and while you can make safe homes in hardcore mode, they’re a pain in the butt to design properly and the allowances you need to make to keep things out are less than appealing to me. Meaning I end up running two worlds with my character as a raider, and that gets...tedious after a while.

I once built an entire village for all of the NPCs in the game (there were fewer at the time), only to watch them die over and over because someone went to hell and killed the wall of flesh.

6. Space Engineers (143 hrs)

Do I really need to explain this one? I made a bunch of voxel spaceships, in space. Was fun, and neat, but last time I poked my head in it was still lacking in things to do long-term. Too much control, not enough content, basically.

7. NieR:Automata™ (126 hrs)

This can’t be right, can it? After all, it’s a twitchy action-RPG with a philosophical bent that feels like the illegitimate bastard lovechild that Nietzsche and Goethe abandoned in the dark forest at midnight on a new moon. (In short, it’s that impossible thing known as an object made purely of edge)

But it is. The game has a massive variety of potential play-styles and difficulties, from “all but literally does everything for you” to, well, bullet hell. And the chip system lets you suit all sorts of preferences (the taunt/crit build is OP as all hell, but I ran with a berserker build that boosted speed and healed me on damaging or killing enemies). The game is as punishing as you allow it to be, and Platinum Games did a fantastic job of that.

8. Subnautica (110 hrs)

I’ve beaten this one multiple times. It actually gives you a lot of control in terms of where and how to build, and how you go about progressing. But the truly great bit of control the game gives you is that it never forces you to progress. You move through it exactly as far as you want to, and it does a great job of getting you to want to.

Sadly, it has two things that really break that. Two enemies, specifically. Warpers, and crabsquids. Warpers can be avoided, are localized, and can become a non-issue by progressing far enough.

Crabsquids are seething gelatinous bundles of undiluted killjoy who prevent me from safely building in my favorite biomes.

9. Stardew Valley (94 hrs)

I really think this one is self explanatory. If it isn’t, it will be as soon as you play it.

10. ARK: Survival Evolved (93 hrs)

This game doesn’t belong on this list. Too much of the time listed was spent fighting the mechanics/trying to get things to work, as opposed to playing the game. It’s neither hardcore nor its opposite.

11. Plague Inc: Evolved (63 hrs)

My favorite thing to do in this game is running the neurax worm. The Christmas scenario in particular is great. This game is an RTS with short playtimes, immediate feedback on choices, and fantastic levels of replayability. Combine that with their scenario editor, difficulty settings, and the huge variety of things you can play as, it makes it as my favorite non-RPG on Steam.

Some non-Steam mentions that are self-explanatory: Pokémon, The Legend of Zelda: BotW (I enjoy the other games too, but they don’t qualify for this), Age of Empires II (I abused the shit out of a bug in the scenario editor), Pharaoh/Caesar III, and the number one timesink of any game I’ve ever played: Minecraft.

In summary: The opposite of a hardcore game is one that gives the player enough leeway to make their own decisions. Not necessarily by giving them multiple choices or paths, but allowing them to proceed at their own pace, potentially with their own choices of mechanics and/or difficulty. And most importantly, it doesn’t punish the player for those choices.

[mack-chan]

Choose 5 OTP’s without looking at the questions first, then tag five people.

Tagged by @littlesunflowerthatcould, the party <3

In no particular order:

1.Nezumi/Shion (no.6)

2.Crowley/Aziraphale (Good Omens)

3.Toya/Yukito (CCS)

4.Kuroo/Kenma (Haikyuu, this one's old as FUCK, but I read the first question and apparently absolutely I need 5 otps, hell)

5.JENNA/JULIEN (THEY AREN'T FICTIONAL CHARACTERS BUT THEY MAKE ME HAPPY, COME AT ME)

(I couldn't think of any others that I still care about orz)

tagging: @triandrus and @pinkuheart19 ? If u want to? uvu and anyone who feels like iit.

1. Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 5?

Uhm, maybeb the jiu jitsu videos?? They were having so much fun :')

2. Have you ever read fanfiction about 2 (crowley/azahfhsj)?

Not yet!!! I'm not a fanfiction consumer but I have seen plen t y of fanart.

3. Has a picture of 4 (kuroo/kenma) ever been your screen saver/profile picture/tumblr ID?

Y e a h, screen saver. Still is in my old computer, actually.

4. If 3 (toya/yukito) were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be?

adjagdha sorry but they WOULDN'T. were they ever explicitly cannon? my heart says yeas

5. Why is 1 (nezumi/shion) so important?

[This is for Marti: bitCh your answer to this one had me <\3]

I suck at explaining myself. But there's a special something to them, a sense of tranquility, peacefulness. But also deep longing. I really really like them. I particularly DIG, the role Nezumi played in Shion’s character development.

6. Is 4 (kuroo/kenma) a funny ship or a serious ship?

Aaahh serious?? I mean Kuroo can be a dork but I don't see them as a comedy couple, I guess??

7. Out of all your ships listed, which ship has the most chemistry?

Hmmm Jenna and Julien.

8. Of all the ships, which ship has the strongest bond?

Definitely nezumi and shion.

9. How many times have you read/watched 2’s (Crowley/Aziraphale) fandom?

Not much? I’ve really just consumed only what my dash here provides lmao.

10. Which ship lasted the longest?

Crowley and The Angle

11. How many times, if ever, has 5 (Jenna and Juli) broken up?

Aaahhh 0? I wouldn’t know tho.

12. If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive, 1 (Nezushi) or 3 (Toya/Yukito)?

HAHA, probable Nezushi, because BOY Nezumi has some exquisite survival skills. Although Shion would most likely fuck up trying to save someone or sth. HOWEVER, yukito is this magical being also so? both

13. Did 4 (Kuroken) ever have to hide their relationship for any reason?

They are not canon. Maybe they just hide it that well. (I’ll just RT marti’s answer because, yeah, all T)

14. Is 2 (Toya/Yukito) still together?

Perhaps not romantically, but still together defs. I actually have zero recollection of how the story ends for them lol.

15. Is 1 (Nezushi) canon?

yeeeeaaa 

16. If all five ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win?

There’s NO WAY Crowley and Aziraphale would lose, sorry everyone else.

17. Has anyone ever tried to sabotage 5’s (J&J) ship?

I HOPE NOT. cermet probably

18. Which ship(s) would you defend to the death and beyond?

nezusuhi

19. Have you ever spent hours a day going through 3 (Toya/Yukito)’s tumblr page?

nah

20. If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the five ships to break up forever, which ship would you sink?

kuroken. I don’t have feelings for them anymore, sorry guyss.

[ravenwolf1132]

Scooby Doo Plot Bunny that wouldn't leave me alone (Cyber/Biopunk-ish???)

So I can up with this interesting twist to @phantoms-lair “Wizard Shaggy” not-so-crack theory, since let's be honest, Shaggy is totally a wizard. However I wanted to add my own twist. Mind you, this has nothing to do with the actual series Scooby Doo and is only an artistic “what if?” scenario I came up with. You see I love “punk” culture, and by punk culture, I mean biopunk, cyberpunk, steampunk, solarpunk, lunarpunk, you get the picture. The whole aesthetic is fascinating to me and I love the concept, so I'm aiming for a cyber/solar/biopunk thing here. It's gonna be like Shadowrun so magic will be involved. Cyberpunk because it would be set in the distant future, solarpunk because of the hippie culture of the 70s and the whole clean energy thing is something I wholeheartedly believe in, and finally biopunk is the actual reason as of why I thought of this. Most of the original theory is based around the seemingly impossible things Shaggy can do or survive, but I'm going to be focusing on the things he can survive because you can basically just chalk up the rest of it to magic. So here's my little AU crack theory thing.

(It will be in the form of a story so be warned and it gets a little creepy and demented just to let you know)

Norville Rogers had always been a sickly child. He was frail and his bones were weak, no matter how much he ate he was still painfully skinny, and he was terrified of practically everything. He had to take medications daily just to function without collapsing. He had barely any friends because his family kept him locked in his room for his safety. He meet his best friend his only friend [Daphne] at a party his family was invited to and he managed to escape his guards. She was standing on the balcony, sad and lonely, just like him, so he introduced himself and asked her for a dance. Ever since then, the two had been close friends, sneaking out to see each other whenever they could. She even gave him his new nickname, “Shaggy”.

Soon, however, his father decided to ship him off to military school after finding out about their meetings, and enrolled him into a special program they have for “special needs” kids, including genetic modification and advanced transhumanism. It was used to help permanently “fix” children in the eyes of the government, “Lead him up in the way he should go and he will never stray from it” [Quote from Bioshock Infinite]. The night before he left, he gave his friend one last goodbye, she begged him to stay to run away, but he refused. He said that he couldn't survive without his medications and couldn’t be himself without them, so he promised that he would find some way to return to her, and told her to wait for him. And she did.

The academy was like hell. They poked and prodded at him to figure out just what was wrong with him. They injected so many serums and fluids into him he lost count. But, it definitely worked. He was stronger now, his bones were reinforced with carbon nanostructures, his skin and tendons strengthened with tissue proteins like orb weaver silk. His blood oxygen saturation was increased and his resting heart rate reduced. TCSs for increased learning capabilities, scleral implants to widen the focus distance of his eyes, electrosensory abilities through silicone pads with rare earth materials, improved hearing sensitivity with protection from loud noises, increased sensitivity of vestibular sense of balance, and even added a subvocalization system to his larynx! [All of this I got off of another post by @kasaron it just reminded me so much of Shaggy and all the weird shit he can do.] While all of this was great and all, it was still as painful as hell to get and the training was worse. He knew he had to escape after four years of the onslaught of torture.

(CREEPINESS STARTS HERE)

They forced the students into “real life” battle scenarios and pretty much scarred them for life, they physically abused them to the point of exhaustion, and their super fast metabolism didn't help and in fact starved them to death since the program refused to give them more than what they were regulated to give out. It was a kill or be killed, strong survive over the weak, world. And if that wasn't bad enough, they were using the program to turn the “students” into monsters. Mindless, soulless, monsters that only followed the directions their given and turning to obedient puppet like slaves, ment for war and killing purposes only. If they didn't have orders to fulfill, then what good were they? Shaggy was terrified of this and had to get out of this hellhole. He had tried multiple times, but had yet to succeed, until an opportunity appeared to him.

During the final exam of his last year before being sent off to the real military, he was facing off against one of his “teachers” - tormentors more like - and won. This teacher wasn't like the others though, he was demented and the source of the physical abuse and had a creepy thing for poor Shaggy. So if Shaggy failed this exam, he wouldn't just fail for the year, but would lose literally everything, winner takes all. The exam was to fight against the teacher and win, so he used everything to his advantage to try to get the upper hand without hurting himself, but so did he. The teacher liked to taunt and mock this students to get them to grow angry and lose control, costing them the match, and he was doing the exact same tactic to antagonize Shaggy. But Shaggy was different, with every insult and mockery he threw out it only fueled his drive to escape, until he said something that shook him to his core. It was like a switch, in that moment gone was the kind hearted and loving boy the academy students knew and in his place was a killer with a heart made of stone.

His speed doubled and accuracy increased, he attacked from all sides dropping his defensive guard. The teacher thought he had finally gotten to the kid, but his smug smile was wiped off his face when he realized that Shaggy's movements weren't random acts of anger lashing out, they were calculated and thought out attacks, looking for his pressure points, weak points, and staying in his blind spots. Unlike other kids, when Shaggy is thoroughly pissed off, his emotional right brain is shutdown and only his cold and calculative left brain remains, fueled by the drive to escape his tormentors, even if that meant to run them down. Unconsciously, he begins to use his dormant magic to amplify his abilities and, while in a blind rage, strikes down his teacher in cold blood. Upon realizing what he had done, he snaps. Staring down at his blood stained hands, a small smile pulls at his lips and laughter bubbles in his chest, soon enough, he's full-blown cackling, laughing hysterically. His laughter turns to hysterical screams and cries, sobbing as it finally dawns on him that he killed his teacher.

The academy decides that Shaggy had become too strong, too powerful, to keep at their facility, and is even more of a danger since he doesn't recall the actual fight. They decided that they would stage his death and execute him. Upon arriving at the scene, Shaggy can't afford to waste anymore time and makes his escape. Terrified of being captured and killed, he runs away.

(CREEPINESS ENDS)

As he finally made his escape, he had to go through the entire facility to get dirt and evidence for what the place was doing. During which, he came across a dog in a very similar situation to his own. SC-00-B3-RT D:00 was a prototype experiment created by the academy to be a hunting and attack dog with human like intelligence. Equipped with navigation systems and a black box like feature, he saved the pooch and brought him along. The record system on the collar SC-00-B3-RT, or Scooby as he called him, had given Shaggy the idea to steal the “school's” records and use it as evidence, especially what they had done to him. As he did so, he was found and chased throughout the facility. This eventually got him caught in an explosion that should have killed him, but didn’t, however the school took it as his demise and simply moved on without a care.

Thankfully, Shaggy was alive though just barely and was found by a group of people that nursed him, and Scooby, back to health [I imagined Texas's gang from Legend of the Phantosaur]. They helped him find his way back home to his family and explained to his parents that he “dropped out” of the program and transferred to the public school system. Thanks to the men who helped him, all the paperwork was already in place and his parents could do anything about it. And without Shaggy's records of even being there in the first place, the “School” couldn't tell his parents that he was “dead.” Living with his parents again was relaxing, yes, but he couldn't help but feel empty. Finally deciding he has had enough, he moves out just before his freshman year and goes to live with his aunt in the apartment above her cafe and bakery shoppe.

In his first year he meets a young man, just a couple months younger than he is [Fred, I headcanon that Shaggy is the older one since technically him and Fred are the same age], and invites him to live with him. He found the poor kid trembling with his wrist slit open and leaning over bloody sink in the bathroom and managed to get him to spill about the abuse in his home. They became good friends after that since they really didn't have anyone else other than themselves. His Sophomore year, he found his best friend again. Overjoyed, he didn't want to leave her side again and surprisingly, Shaggy and his two friends had the same classes together. And finally, he met a wonderful little lady that had a knack for science [Velma], and even dated her for a while before eventually cutting it off, but that's a whole ‘nother story.

During an after school detention they got for separate reasons, they found out about a mystery that their school was literally built on top of and a legend about the old principle of the old school that still lurked in the catacombs beneath them. Since then, they had gained a pension for getting into situations and mysteries then meddling in things they didn't understand. Despite all his complaining about ghost and monsters, at least this was more enjoyable than his time at the academy. Sure, the gang was curious about the seemingly miraculous things he could do and survive, their skinny friend was something of an enigma to them, but they trusted that, when he was ready, he would tell them about his scarred past.

Oooh boy, that turned into an origin story for Shaggy real quickly. I know the “punk” elements aren't very prominent, but I tried to link everything that Shaggy can do and survive, and even included his constantly terrified behavior, into it too. But this was just a little plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it down. If you want me to expand on this let me know, I have multiple ideas roaming around in my head for this, I just have to wrangle them all up.

[rwby-party]

Rwby-party talks stupidly about ships

Well not stupidly on purpose lmfao but still

and I’ll probably die talking about poly ships so they’re just mono ships

Bumbleby (Blake x Yang):

I’m not going to lie. Honestly, I’ve fallen out of love of this ship. I didn’t like it at first, then it quickly became my favorite, but honestly, All That Matters kinda soured their relationship for me.  Like it wasn’t the song it’s self but just the realization of how shitty their situation was, and like.... If I’m going to be honest, if I heard that from the perspective of a girl singing about a guy, I’d hate it. It’s the way too common “Bad boy” song basically spun for them, and it’s just not something I’m into with ships. BLAKE WHY U A BADBOY  At the same time though I died at the first ep when they interacted lmfao. It’s a ship I’ll always love and be passionate about, and is my favorite ship out of all of them in RWBY,  but man does it have it’s problems. Not that every ship has to be perfect by any means, but still. 

Renora (Ren x Nora):

Two best friends that have known each other for years falling in love with each other is something I cannot fuckin even DEAL WITH ITS PERFECT THEY’RE PERFECT

White Rose (Ruby x Weiss):

Never really liked this ship all that much. I don’t hate it (I used to cuz it was the most popular ship but now I see all the others just as much lmfao and I was the “anti-what’s popular” person when I was younger. While it’s cute and fun to see them together it just doesn’t click as a ship to me. It seems like RT ships it though tbh lately lol

Blacksun (Blake x Sun):

Blacksun has a special place in my heart but I feel similar about it as I do with Bumbleby. Blake needs to work on herself lol.  I’m not gonna lie I was part of the group that hated how Sun followed her and I wish it was talked about between them. Stalking someone after their stalking boyfriend stalked them and hurt someone they cared deeply for should’ve had more consequences. However I also wish the fact that she slapped him was also talked about between them as well. It was really nice to see that Sun was really just after making her feel better, and I get the premise that sometimes you need help rather you want it or not, but I just kinda wish those things were touched upon. I still like the ship though lol, and the past is the past. I just mentioned it cuz it was a huge hang up for me and shipping them

Monochrome (Blake x Weiss):

I’ve never really been fond of ships where one of the characters used to be a bigot to the kind of people the other character was, so this one never really sailed for me, but I do like their interactions a lot. I hate to say that too, as it kinda implies I don’t trust Weiss, which is not the case at all. 

Lancaster (Ruby x Jaune):

I’m going to regret admitting this but this was like the first ship I had in the show lmfao. I really thought these two were going to end up together in the first few episodes before Pyrrha stole my Jaune’s heart.  A ship with them together would be awesome tbh. I feel like they really play off each other well, and are the best of friends. Jaune can be such an awesome guy and the show did a great job of showing how close of friends they are and how beautiful their friendship is. Taking that to a relationship would be fine by me, HOWEVER, I like them way more as friends than as a ship. Having close friends like that is so important. I just love their interactions as friends more than if it was a shippy thing. 

Arkos (Jaune x Pyrrha):

Original OTP RIP ME

Honestly I love it but the more I think about it the more it falls from my favorite ship lol. I don’t know why, but I just kinda dislike it the more I think about it. 

RoseGarden (Ruby x Oscar):

Honestly this ship has warmed on me. I still don’t like it cuz the whole Ozpin thing, but I feel like without that it does have the potential of being a cute ship. However like with Lancaster I like them as friends way better. 

Nuts n’ Dolts (Ruby x Penny):

To be honest this was a ship I wasn’t into until like way after she died. (The RWBY chibi ep just like REALLY got to me man) I really feel like they’re adorable together and I wish there were more canon time with them together before Penny was gone ;~;

Cloqwork (Ozpin x Qrow): 

HARDEST OTP TO SEE SINK ALJFKELAJ: I shipped these two the second Qrow said “All those missions, all the times I’m away in some far off place, it’s been for Ozpin,” cuz I thought that was gay as shit. With the recent eps I”m regretting that lmfao. Knowing that Oz probably didn’t even trust whatever’s going to be revealed in today’s ep with Qrow, someone who has been loyal to him since like day 1, is going to be major OOF. Honestly though this became one of my favorite ships when Oz was in his last body. I loved these two so much. How much Qrow stood by him and defended him (I am going to regret this after today’s ep aren’t I)  Obviously with Oscar this ship is now sunk but yeah. 

Tai Kwon Qrow (Tai x Qrow):

Can I talk about this ship name for a sec I love it Time for the first trash ship on our list lmfao.

I love these two together. I know they’re supposed to be bros but man I just ship it so much. I have no reason to other than seeing some good shipping pics (and frankly that one rwby chibi ep where they were arguing like a married couple RT PLZ)

Disabler (Yang x Mercury):

I don’t know what it is, but I just feel like these two would hit it off if Mercury wasn’t a bad guy lol. They have a similar feeling to me, like Mercury is the Yang of the baddies is that makes sense. So I think they could work together. 

Reading Rainbow (Ilia x Blake): Okay can I talk about THIS ship name for a sec it’s perfect This became one of my favorite ships very quickly, when Ilia was redeemed. I was hoping she’d kinda take the place for Blake with the ‘new” white fang thing they’re doing, but it looks like it’s her dad doing it.  That’s okay though, Ilia had a bangin new outfit in the first ep of Vol 6 and looked amazing and how she was reacting to Blake and just akejf;aljfekal;jk I can’t handle these two I want to see this be canon as much as i want Bumbleby to be 

Rosebird (Summer x Raven):

I don’t know which one of you heckers started me on this ship but man JAKLFJekls;fjekl;sjak;lf  Literally no canon interaction but I just like Poly STRQ So much the thought of them all being one big happy fuckin family was awesome how DARE YOU RWBY. SO WHAT IS SUMMER WAS DEAD FROM LIKE DAY ONE

Noahs Ark (Neptune x Jaune):

I think this one’s a lovely ship with how enamored Jaune seemed to be of Neptune and how cool he thinks he is, lol. I at least think it can develop from there.

Martial Arcs (Ren x Jaune):

Just RWBY chibi got me to ship this like BIG TIME They act like a married couple in that show all the time lol. 

Sea Monkeys (Sun x Neptune):

Honestly I wish Neptune would figure out that his compulsive urge to flirt with women is just internalized homophobia and marry sun already

(Okay I’m joking but still I love this ship to bits and pieces) 

Ladybug (Ruby x Blake):

This one has a special place in my heart as well. While I do love bumbleby, I love this one too. I think Ruby and Blake’s personalities really compliment each other. I just wish they interacted more tbh, it just doesn’t seem like they do that often. Hopefully there’s more of that. 

Freezerburn (Yang x Weiss):

Didn’t really have too many feelings about this until the reunion they had and I started to ship it, lol. Not something I fawn over but is a good ship nonetheless

Flown North (Qrow x Summer):

OOF This ship kills me and it came out of nowhere. Once again, no canon interaction between these two shown right now, but man I ship it hard.

Would I want it to be canon? ABSOLUTELY NOT

Sienna x me:

1000/10 best ship

Also send in more and I’ll comment on them! 

[knightofbalance-13]

I believe this needs to be said and now that I’m away from a certain tag, I can show my thoughts about this subject without them being clouded by anger.

Yes, RT made a promise to include an LGBT character in their show RWBY. But the thing is, they never said WHEN it was going to happen so they haven’t broken any promises yet. And considering RWBY isn’t even a political show with the closest thing to political is just a coincidental racism plotline: it was never meant to be one. So just forcing that in sounds like a bad idea.

Not to mention that a promise implies a concession from both sides. They bring in an LGBT character and what does your side do in return? Simple: Behave. You give the writers time to do this when they feel it is right and in exchange, they give you representation. And so far, your side hasn’t been keeping their side of the promise. I’ve seen the writers being called shitty homophobes, I’ve seen people pirating the show because they didn’t get their LGBT character, I’ve seen people assault OTHER LGBT people for not hating every aspect of the show’s existence for this reason. You guys haven’t behaved and by the number of times you’ve exhibited abusive behavior (I’ve got a list so don’t think I’m being hyperbolic): things are getting to the point where RT has no obligation to keep their side.

And that sucks for all the LGBT fans of RWBY because they are excited for the character and they have behaved. Oh, you think by “you guys” I meant LGBT people? No, that group is far too diverse to have anything universal said about them aside from “they are LGBT”. No, I mean the people watching the show solely for the LGBT character, some of whom aren’t LGBT as I have seen. The promise only really applies to you because that is the purpose you are watching, which cannot be said for all LGBT people. So stop trying to use LGBT people and their struggles as a way of forcing RT to comply with you. 

And by the way, stop using “queerbaiting” as an excuse to be terrible. Queerbaiting means the show has to canonically tease an LGBT character and never give it. Not only is RWBY not over and thus the promise still stands but all the examples you use is just shipping material. And considering I was once a part of an obsessive shipping community, I know for a fact that shippers will use the most platonic of interactions and interpret it as romantic so I know for a fact that your examples are not valid. And while you can try bringing up BMBLB, I can counter by saying that was never canon and considering that Not Fall In Love With You got shot down as well, LGBT people are not be excluded here. “queerbaiting” is a serious word and if you use it this much outside of what it actually means, it loses all meaning as a result and when it actually happens, those people will get away because you cried wolf so many times before.

Before you say something about feeling betrayed and how your feelings are valid: I never said your feelings were invalid. I only said your ACTIONS were invalid and wrong. Because I’ve seen what actions like these do to fandoms. I saw it with Tokyo Ghoul and suicide baiting the author for sinking a ship. I saw it with Voltron and someone blackmailing the studio to make their ship canon. All from similar ways of thinking and extremely similar ways of acting. I know you want to say that you wouldn’t pull that and as much as I would like to believe it: With what happened to Arryn and Jeff, you are only a hair’s width from crossing the line. And seeing what happened with Volume 5′s premiere having gay guys: Nothing from RT can stop you. You need to stop yourselves.

I get that RT made a promise and if they don’t keep it and things don’t get worse than they are now: I’ll hold them accountable. But a promise only justifies so much and you are on the verge of crossing that line. Especially as you hurt people in real life with your actions, like the creators and other LGBT people. If things get any worse: I’m sorry but I can’t really hold RT responsible anymore. Because crossing that line is unforgiveable for whatever reason. I won’t forgive, let alone defend, anyone who forces this fandom into the likes of Steven Universe or Voltron. So if you are this angry about this: Calm down. And if you are that obsessed: shows for you exist elsewhere. Not all media needs to suit your needs. 

I’m sorry but this all needs said.

[rwby-analysis]

Why Adam is a well written villain

...or why he could be one. 

Let’s get this straight, I think he could be one of the best written villains of the show. Could be because we haven’t seen all of him yet. Of course they could still screw it up. But he has so much potential. 

Adam appears in the Black Trailer and there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with his relationship towards Blake. He saves her at one point, they work well as a team and the reason she eventually leaves is because he doesn’t care about collateral damage - not something between them. 

In volume 2 we see Blake drawing Adam and when she talks about him later on she mentions how dear her was to her, but also that he has changed. We don’t really learn in which way he has changed, but everything doesn’t seem too bad until now. 

Later we learn that Adam now works with Cinder, in volume 3 we see him in flashbacks and Blake finally talks about him a bit more, but it all doesn’t seem to bad - until episode 3x11 happens. 

Suddenly Adam turns into Blake’s creepy abusive ex boyfriend. And damn is he creepy. He sees Blake again and even though he calls her Darling and Love, even though he says “Everything I want is you”, he wants to see her suffer for her betrayal and hurts the first person he can get his hands on who is close to Blake - Yang. 

There are two things I really love about this. 

Everything we know about Adam before volume 3 is from the Black Trailer or told to us by Blake. Until Adam shows his dark side in episode 3x11 we see him through Blake’s eyes and of course she romanticises him in a way. A lot of abuse victims don’t realise how badly their abusers treat them. When Blake meets Adam she doesn’t seem too surprised by his behaviour or him showing such physical aggression towards her, and when Yang tries to race to her side she immediately knows how dangerous Adam will be for her. 

Was he always like that? Did she just discover more and more of his dark side? Has he changed? We don’t know, but we do know that she has this image of him in her head that draws him way more positive than he actually is. 

That scene is one of the most powerful scenes on the show. The shock of Adam turning out to be way worse than we ever thought. How Adam’s words and his actions contradict themselves in such a harsh way. Adam pointing out something Blake is already insecure about, something about her character, showing how well he knows her. Blake being determined not to run away. This scene shows us a lot about their relationship and hints so much more. 

The second thing is that until volume 3 we actually don’t really know anything about him. Adam is first introduced as this abusive, creepy guy who hurts one of our favourite characters. Why not go another route and make him likable first and then show us what an asshole he is? We have other likable villains, just look at Emerald’s and Mercury’s first scene. They’re shown as enjoyable characters, even though they literally kill someone in their very fist scene. 

Because people would have romanticised his behaviour. 

Techincally Adam doesn’t do anything that’s worse than what Cinder, Emerald and Mercury did. But apart from Cinder and Salem maybe none of the villains have shown tendencies to abuse someone they have some sort of personal bond with. Adam loves Blake - in an obsessive, unhealthy way. And he hurts her. 

The thing is that abuse actually happens. If RT had shown Adam’s good sides first people would have romanticised him even more than they already did, and let me tell you from experience, that quickly leads to them excusing everything he does, no matter how terrible it is. Introducing Adam’s really bad side before showing us why he is that way and adding more layers to his character quickly sinks that ship and prevents that from happening. 

Abusing someone isn’t worse than killing someone, but romanticising a character who kills people doesn’t lead to someone romanticising abusive patterns in real life relationships, simply because most people know that killing someone is wrong, but I have seen many people struggle with the abusive shit their partner did to them without realising how badly they treated them.

Not to say it wouldn’t have worked if they had done it differently, but I just think it was a clever way to introduce him. Yes - Adam seems a bit one dimensional so far. But we have barely seen anything of him. Showing us his bad side first doesn’t have to mean we won’t see more layers of him later on. I think they have the chance to portray an abusive relationship in an amazing way and I am thrilled to see more of him.

Abuse happens and well written abuse stories that don’t romanticise the abuse (and hell doesn’t RT romanticise any of it) can be so important for survivors. I trust RT to pull it off well and I am so happy they included that heavy aspect into Blake’s arc, because not only is abuse rarely represented in media, if it is stories are often badly written or they show the abuse but romanticise the shit out of it (I have seen this with my own eyes and it’s not beautiful). It’s important for young people who have yet to figure out what a healthy relationship should look like, it is important for survivors to be acknowledged and learn that they are not the one to blame. With Weiss and Blake we have two strong female characters who face abuse by someone really close to them and I am so grateful for that. 

[sjrresearch]

Playing the Battlefield: Exploring World War II and Video Games

How many times have you disembarked from an Allied LCVP and scrambled up the blood-soaked beaches of Normandy? We’ve joined the fight in Europe, flew over Pacific waters, and navigated warships through the Atlantic, all to revisit the global conflict of World War II. While video games may seem an odd source for information regarding the Second World War, developers have proven time and time again that it’s not an outlandish concept. Digital adventures are often used to recreate the conflicts of yesteryear. While the education they offer may be surface-level, these games make people interested in history in a way a textbook cannot.

World War II is undoubtedly the most popular historical event in the video game industry. Since the 1980s, developers have been utilizing the conflict of the 40s as a backdrop for their adventures. Games like Eastern Front (Atari, 1981) and Castle Wolfenstein (Muse Software, 1981) launched an entire genre of games that is still being expanded upon today. From first-person shooters to real-time strategy titles, the Second World War has been digitized more times than anyone should care to count. 

Before we dig too deep into the notable World War II games that best retell the events of the global battle, let’s look at the first question that may be on your mind.

Why is World War II So Popular in Gaming? 

You can probably name several dozen World War II-specific games off the top of your head without thinking. How far can you get with World War I? Or even the Vietnam War? Chances are nowhere near as close. It’s not because all World War I or Vietnam War games are bad. The conflicts simply don’t have as big a spotlight on them.

According to author Frank Cottrell Boyce in Andrew Pulver’s “Why are we so obsessed with films about the Second World War” piece (The Guardian), “The war has become a metaphor, not just history. You can map on to it any way you want. We’re attracted to it because of its moral certainties.” With the public atrocities carried out by Germany and Japan, there are clear “villains” and “heroes” in World War II material. There is no moral ambiguity as you mow down Nazis or sink ships of the Imperial Navy.  

The history of World War II has also become propaganda of a sort, inspiring brotherhood and patriotism even more than 75 years after its end. Games like Brothers in Arms highlight the comradery of World War II soldiers right in the title while games like Call of Duty and Battlefield align you with a squad of likable and relatable soldiers. 

But still, why not World War I? The line between “good” and “bad” was clearly drawn, and soldiers banded together with the same fervor to fight for their country. For that, you have to look at the United States’ role in both conflicts. Video games have become so westernized that many stories are told through the eyes of American soldiers. When the nation entered World War I, the conflict was already on the downswing. Within one year and seven months, it was over. Compare that to World War II, where the United States was fighting a two-front conflict for nearly four years. The whole nation became invested. Roles in the household changed, and men willingly enlisted to battle the Nazis and the Japanese. The attack on Pearl Harbor ultimately solidified that the Second World War would become the most important conflict in history - at least to the United States.

Vice’s Corey Milne’s says it best in his article “Video Games Have Sapped the Spirit Out of World War II.” In it, he states, “World War II was great PR and the biggest games on it have cemented America’s reputation as a powerful and noble entity.”

That, of course, is not to say World War II video games should not be played. There are many worth diving into.

The World War II Games All Should Play

Since the library of World War II games is so large, it’s worth breaking it down into a shortlist of some of the most influential, important, and entertaining video games featuring the global war. While the first-person shooter genre is most prevalent, strategy games have been a suitable medium for scaling combat and showing the tactical side of the European and Pacific Theaters.

Castle Wolfenstein (Muse Software, 1981)

Though Castle Wolfenstein was among the first games to utilize stealth mechanics, it really only received notoriety when id Software retooled the concept into an action-packed first-person shooter in 1992. As an Allied spy, players maneuver through the titular castle, evading or killing German soldiers during their escape. The gameplay was simple, but the game did make historical references to the Mauser C96 pistol and Hitler’s SS unit.

Axis & Allies (Meyer/Glass Interactive, 1998)

Based on a very popular board game, Axis & Allies allows players to choose which side they’ll fight for in the large-scale conflict. The RTS turn-based format cycles through the major world powers across multiple phases, from research to combat, as they vie for control of a world map. When a capital city falls, that nation is taken out of battle until their ally can liberate them. It’s a unique way of depicting the joint effort that was required during World War II - though Japan as Germany’s close ally puts a unique spin on the dual-front war. Combat plays out in an RTS format that uses authentic units, from battleships to general infantry.

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (2015, Inc, 2002)

Though it’s the third Medal of Honor game, Allied Assault is more memorable than its predecessors. It was one of the first games to depict a horrifying recreation of D-Day. Soldiers drop around you as you storm the beach, evading German machine-gun fire and mortars in what feels like a futile attempt of claiming the beachhead. Beyond Omaha Beach, Allied Assault spanned real locations to retain historical accuracy. Players cross into German-occupied France to liberate comrades and rush into the Nazi bases of Algiers to cripple Hitler’s forces. Allied Assault set the bar for World War II shooters and is often praised for its strides in capturing the horrors of war.

Battlefield 1942 (Digital Illusions CE, 2002)

Whereas Medal of Honor was known for crafting deep stories that painted a grim war speckled with moments of hope, Battlefield 1942 was all about the large-scale combat. Digital Illusions CE wanted to focus on more than just the human side of war. So, it opened up the battlefield, added functional aircraft and ground vehicles, and threw players into massive engagements. Up to 64 players could join the fray as Medic, Scout, Anti-Tank, Engineer, or Assault class infantry, all with unique skills and load-outs. It may have depersonalized World War II, but it helped show its scope.

Call of Duty 2 (Infinity Ward, 2005)

For four years, Medal of Honor enjoyed being the pinnacle of World War II video gaming. Even when Battlefield 1942 released, Medal of Honor remained on the throne. Then a new studio came along, stocked with 22 developers that originally worked on Allied Assault. Infinity Ward introduced a new competitor into the budding war video game market with Call of Duty, but it was Call of Duty 2 that ultimately changed the face of war games. If anything was going to dethrone Medal of Honor, it was Infinity Ward’s Xbox 360 launch title. The game introduced “post-war effects,” from raging fires to smoke and dust that blocks the screen. Call of Duty 2 elevated video game warfare to a level of realism that had yet to be touched on. 

Silent Hunter III (Ubisoft, 2005)

So many war games feature sprawling battles across cities and open plains. Aeon Electronic Entertainment took a different approach and put players in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Silent Hunter (1996) filled the player’s screen with information, from the different dials and computers of a submarine to details about the World War II vessels. Silent Hunter III improved upon the concept that the first game laid out with improved visuals, deeper gameplay, and more intuitive mechanics.  

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 (Gearbox Software, 2005)

Capturing the spirit of camaraderie, Brothers in Arms is based on the true story of the 101st Airborne Paratroopers. Unlike many World War II first-person shooters, Brothers in Arms wasn’t about the action. It put strategy and tactics first to retell the harrowing tale of the paratroopers that became scattered across the French countryside before the Normandy invasion. The game is impressively realistic, from the details of the battlefields to the equipment. Gearbox Software used eyewitness accounts to flesh out what happened to the paratroopers and create a game that’s less about winning a war and more about protecting your squadron.

Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch, 2008)

After having developed Call of Duty 3, Treyarch was back with World at War. It may not have fared as well with reviewers, but World at War is equally as important as previous titles as it shifted focus to the Pacific Theater. World War II games were mostly inclined to take the battle to Europe against the German threat, leaving the Pacific conflict off the table entirely. World at War explores the Pacific Theater with a gritty realism that added limb dismemberment and accurate burn injuries. Treyarch’s development team also kicked off one of Call of Duty’s biggest trends with the Nazi Zombies mode.

Company of Heroes (Relic Entertainment, 2006)

Company of Heroes blends the units and tech of World War II with solid RTS mechanics. Players engage the Germans across notable battles like the Invasion of Normandy, using the staples of the RTS genre that we’ve become accustomed to. Company of Heroes makes you think about every move as if you’re a general formulating the best plan to take a vantage point and crush the opposition. On top of being a good looking game, Company of Heroes plays really well and offers deep gameplay that you can’t rush through. Make the wrong move, and your opposition will emerge victoriously. Much like in real war.

Regardless of which of these games you’re booting up first, be sure to pay attention to the history. Just because they’re forms of entertainment doesn’t mean there isn’t valuable information about World War II scattered throughout these titles.

At SJR Research, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse SJR Research’s service on our site at SJR Research.

[ayittey1]

Reckless Borrowing Sinks Africa’s Economic Prospects

At the end of August 2013, Ghana’s total external debt stood at $22.7 billion – that is money owed by the Government of Ghana to foreign creditors. Another $10.1 billion represents domestic debt, which is owed to domestic creditors – mostly banks and credit institutions. Equally distributed, each Ghanaian shoulders about $1,000 of this huge total debt. What is there to show for this debt? The railway system is kaput. The roads are crated with potholes big enough to swallow a truck. The water tap spits some water now and then – if ever. Turn on the light switch and it will give you a dirty slap (dumsor). So what did the government do with all that money it borrowed in the past? Most Ghanaians would scratch their heads as there is little to show for it. 

There is nothing wrong with borrowing money but a cardinal principle in borrowing money is to use the loan proceeds productively to generate a return, which may be used to amortize the loan by paying off interest and the principal. For example, if a loan is used to build hydroelectric dam to generate electricity, revenue from its sale may be used to amortize the loan. In this case, there will be little difficulty in servicing the loan. Such was the case with the loan taken from the World Bank to build the Akosombo Dam. However, when interest payments are missed on three consecutive occasions, the loan is said to be in technical default. Default or difficulties with repayment may arise when the loan proceeds are,

1.     Consumed,

2.     Used unproductively,

3.     Embezzled or stolen,

4.     Used to purchase weapons to fight a war or to splurge on the military.

 A loan is consumed if one borrows $1,000 and spends the money having a good time at restaurants and nightclubs. In a similar vein, a government consumes a loan when it spends the proceeds on financing its deficit; for example, to pay for imported luxury cars for ministers or giving its workers hefty salary increases. Unproductive use of loans can also create a problem. For example, in the 1960s Ghana borrowed to establish a mango-canning factory with a capacity exceeding the entire world’s trade in canned mangoes. The factory never got off the ground as the supply of mangoes came from a few trees scattered in the bush. Loan proceeds may also be embezzled, stolen or squandered, which makes repayment excruciatingly difficult. Governments also borrow money to beef up their militaries or purchase weapons to prosecute wars. Such were the cases with governments in Angola, Ethiopia and Sudan. The most absurd act of borrowing is to use the proceeds to purchase weapons. Bang! Bang! Bang! And the loan goes up in smoke with nothing to repay the loan! In recent years, all these four categories of misuse of loans have characterized foreign borrowing by not just in Ghana but Africa as well.

 In recent years, Ghana has borrowed recklessly, fritting away the loan proceeds on projects that defied economic rationality. In 2007, Ghana was the first African beneficiary of debt relief to tap the international bond markets, launching a US$750 million 10-year issue. The proceeds were intended to be invested in infrastructure or reforms that would sustain GDP growth and generate the extra revenue to service the debt as promised by the government. That would have satisfied the cardinal principle of borrowing. But instead, the loan proceeds were divested to vastly increase public-sector salaries, which now account for 70% of the budget. In other words, the loan was diverted and consumed. Even more annoying, not all civil servants are real. Ghost workers frolic on government payrolls. About 6,000 of them were found in December 2014. “In July 2014, the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) deleted 3,179 ghost names from public payrolls in the Greater Accra region alone, between April and June” (Ghana News, December 15, 2014 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=339020). In Nigeria, 62,893 ghost workers were nabbed and hopefully reburied (Africa Leadership Magazine, February 18, 2015 http://africanleadership.co.uk/nigeria-lacks-institutions-systems-processes-to-prevent-corruption-okonjo-iweala/?fb_ref=Default&fb_source=message) In Kenya, a professor was caught collecting the salary of a ghost worker  

 “Ghost workers” are one nefarious stratagem used by senior government officers to push expenditures out of control. On the other side of the ledger, revenues don’t match, either. In Ghana, the anticipated oil revenue was delayed and mismanagement of the energy sector led to acute power shortages that crippled industrial production. Import and costs and volumes rose steeply, leaving Ghana with a double-digit current account deficit, a budget deficit of 9.5% of GDP and public debt amounting to 60% of GDP in 2014, requiring more borrowing. That year Ghana became the first beneficiary to return to the IMF for a three-year rescue package including up to US$1bn to resolve a balance-of-payments crisis.

 Cup in hand, Ghana has periodically been knocking at the IMF’s door for a bailout – Haas  in 1999, 2003, 2009 and 2014.  The discovery of oil and rapid economic growth spurred Ghana to raise even more loans that increased indebtedness to a higher level than pre-HIPC debt relief. Buoyed by high GDP growth rates, which reached 14.5% in 2011, and rebasing of the economy which catapulted the country to middle income status in 2010, swollen-headed government officials went on a borrowing spree with little foresight-- like drunken sailors. One such acquisition was the $3 billion loan China offered to Ghana in 2012.The loan was to be used to rehabilitate portions of Ghana’s dilapidated railway system, build infrastructure to capture gas that would otherwise be flared from oil production, and the reconstruction of roads. Such use of the loan proceeds would have been productive and judicious but the terms of the loan were so outlandish. In exchange for the loan, China demanded a daily supply of Ghana crude oil of 13,000 barrels – the entire portion of the Government of Ghana’s share in Jubilee Oilfields – for the next fifteen and half years!

 A few strokes on a cheap calculator would reveal that over the fifteen and half year period, 74 million barrels of oil would be shipped to China. The value at the price of crude oil of $107 in 2010 per barrel, works out to be $8.1 billion. Nice repayment for a loan of $3 billion. And what happened to the loan? Or which part of Ghana’s infrastructure it it has been used to repair and at what cost? Scratching your head? Never mind, now Ghana is going in for the big one – the mother of all loans.

 China has agreed to provide a $15 billion loan to Ghana to finance its major economic projects. Ghanaian officials say the loan is not based on the traditional model of borrowing and aid, but on the bargaining power of the country's natural resources. Ghana owns 2.8 billion metric tons of iron ore deposits, 960 million metric tons of bauxite, 413 million metric tons of manganese, not to mention gold and cocoa, which is estimated to be worth $460 billion in the ground (Ghana leverages natural resources to secure $15bn loan from China (RT, June 27, 2017 https://www.rt.com/business/394262-ghana-china-loan-natural-resources/)

 There is always some disquiet or uneasiness when African governments borrow huge sums of money. There used to be a time when people went into government with pride to serve the people. Not anymore. These days the ruling elites go into government not to serve but to fleece the people and loot the treasury. Back in the 1960s, a $1 million here and a $1 million there might disappear. But these days, the unrepentant bandits cart away the entire treasury! Ex-Gambian dictator, Yahya Jammeh, stole more than $50 million and left the treasury empty in January, 2017 (http://www.trtworld.com/mea/ex-gambian-leader-stole-50-million-362487).

In 2015, Kenyaya raised Sh250 billion ($2.4 billion) on the Eurobond market but half of it never made it into government coffers. An irate opposition leader, Raila Odinga, demanded to know the answer and the thieves to be held accountable.

 “Addressing a news conference in Nairobi in January 14, 2016, Odinga said President Uhuru Kenyatta's Chief of Staff Joseph Kinyua, Treasury's Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, the principal secretary Kamau Thugge, Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) chairman Mohammed Nyaoga, former CBK governor Njuguna Ndung'u, accountant-general Bernard Ndung'u and CBK's financial markets director John Birech and his financial management colleague Moses Muthui owed Kenyans an explanation on how the Sh250 billion bond was spent.

Odinga alleged the documents of remittances of the money into the country were forged and insisted that nearly half the amount – Sh102 billion—never made it into the country.

"The scheme is so elaborate, so thick and so reckless that we believe these officers acted for or on instructions from bosses higher up the Executive ladder. Your guess is as good as mine on who the owners of the plot really are," said Raila (Standard Digital January 14th 2016 http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000188144/raila-names-uhuru-aide-rotich-and-cbk-bosses-in-eurobond-saga)

Then on June 6, 2017, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s opened a $4 billion on a 300-mile railway connecting the capital, Nairobi, to the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa – the most expensive infrastructure project since Kenya’s independence 54 years ago and one-fifth of its national budget. China’s Eximbank provided about 90 percent of the funding for Nairobi-Mombasa project. The loan has already pushed the Kenyan debt above 50 percent of GDP, and imports of Chinese supplies and materials required to build the railway are making people anxious about Kenya’s worsening trade imbalance with China. Kenyans dismissed it as the “Lunatic Express.” (The New York Times, June 8, 2017. https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/world/africa/kenyans-fear-chinese-backed-railway-is-another-lunatic-express.html?mwrsm=facebook&referer=http%3a%2f%2fm.facebook.com)

 Pamphlets heralding the arrival of the Express were in Chinese. Some staff members wore uniforms of red and gold — the colors of China’s flag. Even the music on the train wasn’t Kenyan. And to add insult to injury, a sculpture of Mao Zedong at the Mombasa station was actually that of Zheng He, a 15th-century Chinese explorer who sailed to East Africa. In a related railway project, the launch of Madaraka Express inter-county train was postponed“ because the Managing Director Atanas Maina said “China Road and Bridge Corporation employees, who were key to the operations, had just arrived in the country and needed time to “go through the handover process.” (Daily Nation, June 30, 2017 http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Madaraka-Express-inter-county-train-launch-postponed/1056-3994696-ruedmqz/index.html)

In Mozambique, $1 billion in loan proceeds have gone missing. In 2016, the country defaulted on $762 million of bonds and about $1.2 billion of loans. Two companies owned by Mozambique’s military borrowed the loans backed by government guarantees in 2013 and 2014 without public disclosure or parliamentary approval. A third state-owned company issued $850 million of bonds using similar guarantees in 2013.

 Kroll, the New York-based investigator, found that the three companies — all owned by Mozambique’s military intelligence agency — also paid $713 million more for fishing boats, naval vessels, radar and other maritime security equipment than an expert evaluation said they were worth. The loans were taken out in 2013 when the impoverished southern African nation said it wanted to set up a state-backed tuna fishing company. But they were hidden from the IMF and donors, and their discovery plunged what had been one of Africa’s star economic performers into a financial crisis (The Wall Street Journal, June 30, 2017 https://www.wsj.com/articles/mozambique-bondholders-push-for-loan-repudiation-1498750866?tesla=y) When Paulo Machava, a Mozambican journalist and publisher, attempted to expose the scandal, he was shot dead on Aug 28 2014.

 In Zambia, the Government borrowed so recklessly that its debt rose by 176 percent between 2011 and 2016. Analysts say that the state does not have the means to repay it and the country defaulted in 2016. Documents from the Ministry of Finance shows that Zambia’s total public debt is $9.75 billion dollars. This debt is made up to $6.05 billion external debt and $3.7 billion domestic debt. The total public debt has increased from $3.5 billion in 2011 to about $9.75 billion today, an increase of 176 percent. Zambia also has three outstanding Eurobonds, the first for $750 million issued in April of 2012, the second for $1 billion issued in June 2014, and the third issued in July 2015 for $1.25 billion. Like Ghana, loan proceeds were not used for their intended purpose but diverted and squandered. Even more inexplicable is the fact that there is no monitoring mechanism to check how much the government is borrowing and repaying. According to the Auditor General’s report at the end of 2016, some old debts contracted on the capital markets in 2012 have not yet been serviced (Lusaka Times, January 8, 2016 https://www.lusakatimes.com/2016/01/08/zambia-will-struggle-to-repay-debt-that-has-increased-by-176-since-2011/)

 Some African countries have borrowed responsibly. In Botswana they evaluate every proposed loan with a proper cost-benefit analysis of the projects they’ll undertake with the money and work out whether the benefits will service the debt. Funds raised by governments are public money. In keeping with their constitutional mandate, National Assembly legislators or MPs are required to exercise vigorous oversight and demand transparency about debt terms and spending plans. In Tanzania, the Public Affairs and Budget Committees in the Tanzanian legislature exemplify the potential influence of parliamentary scrutiny. And Kenya is waking up to its responsibilities. The Auditor General Edward Ouko, the Parliamentary Budget Office and MPs rejected the Kenyan government’s proposal to raise the country’s debt ceiling by 50% – to 53% of GDP – until further details about spending plans and returns on investment were provided. Ouko publicly warned that such a move “will mortgage Kenyans for the next 50 years.

 Would the National Assembly or Parliament perform its constitutional oversight duties in Nigeria or Ghana? Not a chance. Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria dismissed its National Assembly as "an assembly of thieves and looters." (Premium Times, September 26, 2014 http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/171918-obasanjo-rubbishes-national-assembly-says-assembly-thieves-looters.html). Ghana’s Parliament abdicated its constitutional responsibility a long time ago and became rubber stamp, approving foreign loans by heart, regardless of their merit.

 When African leaders trooped to the United Nations to beg for foreign aid, a parallel Children's Summit was held in May 2002 in New York. The youngsters from Africa ripped into their leaders for failing to improve their education and health. "You get loans that will be paid in 20 to 30 years and we have nothing to repay them with, because when you get the money, you embezzle it, you eat it”, said 12-year-old Joseph Tamale from Uganda (BBC News, May 10, 2002).  

 Even African children understand the cardinal principles of borrowing – that borrowing recklessly and consuming the proceeds can land a country into trouble.

 ----------------------------------

The author is a retired Professor of Economics at American University in Washington DC, USA and Senior Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs in Accra. He is the author of several books on Africa. His forthcoming book is Applied Economics for Africa.

[throwingideasatthewall]

Clone Wars     Episode 16

            The Hidden Enemy

[Title       Sequence]

  Quote

   Okay

“ A planet under siege,”

  Actually shows a planet under siege

   Good job narrator, you’re on      point

   Aight

   Right

 [ unable to defend       themselves any longer,”

     Bull shit

    Those            Are           Adults

       They’ve          been             in           war              for          how          long?

     Point         Being;            No           Excuse

     Yeet

     Call        on          the         Jedi          for      assistance       More         Enablers!

   “Hoping          to         save        lives        and      prevent      further    destruction,”

    They did not assume Account -         ability and        Con-       tin      ued      To       Enable

  It’s      a    nice   design   though

 “And    Anakin   Skywalker,”

  They    dragged       the     teenager       into       this     didn’t      they?

   Nice

 Anakin

  Also     now      it’s    crucial

 “We’re       Set,”

  “ got some guys here     that are set to get going,”

   Ooh

  It’s   better

Than    Openly    Snarking      Anakin

 Now       Just    “ it’s a      little      too     much      tone,”       Back

  There      we      go

 Also   focusing       a lot      on that guy       with     yellow     armor

[Bet he’s the new    hero!]

  Whelp

 Everything’s      Looking      Pretty-      Realistic

  That’s        Dry...

  Also     are    you    right    next     to   each   other   using   walkie-talkies?

Cool

Suspic.

  Okay       Neat

   Whelp

   That’s           A          Lot

 Battalion

   Yeah       that’s         a        lot

   Tanks

    Yep  

    Hope         They          Have       Explosives

    Whelp

   “A little        Closer”

   Shouldn’t         the      superior        be giving      the orders

Like;        Fair if he handed off that         authority        off screen

     Would’ve           been nice          to see         the plan      coming together           though

       Right

      They’re       splitting            up

       Darn          It

       That      screws            up

      Whelp

       The          Fuck?

       Who            didn’t          give            a        warning??

        Like           they            all           just        silently         died??

Whelp-

  That-

    Sounded literal plastic        cans falling over

     Abort         the       mission

     ????          How?

      Is       there         a     second     doorway??

  -What

   Whelp

    Also that some admittedly weak armor

    Like one shot      and those guys go down

  Whelp

    Then again they are supposed to be    cannon fodder

   [or just outwhelm with numbers]

   Aka; The council probably gave     them cheap armor

    Whelp

   Okay

   Dude, you see flashing lights and a bunch of bullshit going     down

     Like you’ve clearly shown the ability to put pieces together

    And they might be going with a different tone-

    Then again-

  Cut off

  Droids onto       Us...

  Whelp...

      Ouch.            .

       Evac       south          tower            - His           tone is a little too innocent

        Good Plan

       South                Tower

        We’re             in            the                  North

       Not             For-

      [Okay           I’m       conflicted           are          they        going          for             Adult            Anakin?          Because          This             Is            Kinda....       New        Taking         the        bite        out         of         the        Darth       Vader       thing,             But          This          is         the         lead          up...

     Point          being;             If       they’re       going        for      adult,       they      really      need        to      lean      more       into       the     snarky   I-know exactly-what-I’m-doing-        tone

   [Even,          Re-assured        tone]

      If not; then more       monotone

      This           is          the         best           of        neither        worlds

    Does    n’t          Work

    Aight,           Lots           Of         Smart         Decisions

  [Except       for      Obi-wan]

    You          have         blasters

      Not          snipers

        How?

       Wait-

        How-?

       They’re 

      Several

        Yards-

          Blasters are       short range weapons                right?

       In every circumstance we’ve seen            they’ve been            short range-

             So-

... He dead?

    Whelp-          Heck-

    Aight

   Cutting’s         a         little       odd

  Un-    satisfactory

  Get-     Over here

    ????

Now     he can throw       stuff

    Obi-Wan           is a           show        off

   There’s         five        but       okay

   Right        the     elevator

   Oh      roof       top

    That’s       smart

     Now         What?

      No          one       guarding         the         elevator

       Or          heard           it          come          up

     (Those         things         make         noise)

      Whelp

       Good            someone              took               cover                   -

             Whelp

              Okay

               Did everyone join this roof top fight?

               Seriously,                       where is that plane/                         Carrier?

                    Whelp

                      There                                 We                            Are

                    Question                       answered

                     Aight

                    Seriously

                     What                          are                       those                        blasters?

                       I thought they were some high heated sparks that could causes bruises and dents, to the armor, breaking it down

                      But dude reacts like he got hit by a                          one-shot cannonball?

                       Like, why-

                      Anyway...

                   They escape

                    Dude, taking a                        souvenir

                      Seriously,                            that’s sus

                       [Oof]

                       Anyway..

                       [Holy sh*t                            the red!]

                          Maybe                             this tactical droid                            will help

                            You’re                                 sus

How   they   knew   our   plan

????

Has this happened   multiple   times?

That     seems like a pretty big jump?

 Like ‘oh they happen to take a different     path and stumble up the stairs,   traitor- I’m go-”

Seriously

Night

Base

Why

The editing   is   weird

Progression-

Whelp,     that     happened

...

Just   doesn’t    make   sense

That    they    saw   you     and    

reacted accordingly

Like,     what are we supposed to find   sus   here?

Missing    a bit         of   crucial   information

 How     we     got   here

 Ow

How?

Future      Tech

Rt-D2

“Least-”

  Again     -How

“They     had      all     our    Intel,”

We   saw   only   one    line     of      it     that   can      be   gleaned     from     basic   observation

  Please   enlighten      us

 Ambush

Vulnerable

 They   walked     up      a     flight     of    stairs

You   know   what   would’ve   worked   better?

Troop       Movement        Charts

   That      would’ve       worked         a lot better        with the dialogue        going on here

  And       what just happened

Here....       They kinda look like      Over paranoid idiots      for no reason

  I don’t think we did

 .... it was a flight     of stairs

  Infiltrated       our      defenses

 Up      a         flight          of          stairs

    Possibly

Dude     not possibly         you were ready to jump on this idea

   OK so this is a Obi-Wan-and- Anakin-are-overly-paranoid-and-actually stumbled-across-some-thing                                         Mission

Okay    those are fine,        Just      would’ve     liked a few more      context clues

   Exclud      -ing       the       title

    Getting          right        into        the        murder       mystery

   “Intel.”            STAIRS           ....

    Seps

  ‘Who want to betray the      guys who enabled      our           Abuse....”

   Enemy        Lines

    This is       really       corny

  Breaking       out       the    disguises

  Aight

 What....

 Anyone...

   Two       Clones

   Like they do have top security clearance           if we’re going with the Obi-wan’s     paranoid logic

   Cody      didn’t say anything...

    Whelp

   Beeping

    Whelp         Shit

   Why...        did      you     run?

  What kind of run is that...     Rex?

  Follow

   What?

   Also,       teamwork?

   Rex         Has         A         Gun

    Wait,       you’re        going          to       shoot          him??

    Please- tell me that’s a     stun gun

    Whelp,          How?

       That            Face

     Must’ve          gone          in the          mess           hall

Aight

   We’ve       got        a      big    problem

  Did   anyone   switch   into   armor

Also,     ‘ hey     did  someone     come    through     here?’

  You’re        the     superiors

   No     one‘s    going       to    question       a  reprimand      on    conduct

   Oh that you’re going to question      someone you don’t know the name of

  Like,    there’s     five     guys      here

(Maybe      More)

   And     you’re     acting       like         a       basic         “hey       what’s             up,         how’s          it      going        is      going         to      trigger         a       spy     sense,

 Like, there     is some protocol on       running        in       the      hall      right?

    Like,     seems        easy       enough

   Brothers

    Weakest       relation        in         all         the           relations

       Also dude was wearing            A gray uniform

     Did you just think he was the   custodian?

     One           Of           Us

      Did you just leave the cafeteria without....

     Rex & Cody suck at being detectives

    Also what’s his voice just did a      maniacal        there

     Like,         What?!

    We’ll have to wait for his next move....

   What is with the logic.....

   This is supposed to be a murder mystery.... but the logic  is the weakest         part

    “Jedi,”

   We found nothing       master Jedi

      [we did toss away a     lead though]

   .....

    What?

  Real discrete

    Okay

    Smart droid

     .....

     No

  Rex and Cody are the worlds worst       detectives

   Rex    Specifically

   But he was always the     instigator         of       bad         ideas

   R2D2...          Is the     spy

Whelp

...Aight

 Slick

 Aight

Whelp

 ..It was a building..

Aight...

  Whelp

   Whelp

 Time to have cookies and tea with the   separatist leader

No,       No      Way

  Assumed     authority

  Whelp

   Two        of      them       have       hair

[excluding    Slick]

  Who’s     name       is     slick

  What

   It’s       Him 

   ...

Okay     now     they      all     have     hair

Bullshit    Animators

  Two       of     those     guys      were      very    clearly    bald

  Dude    Went         To        Crate-

  In-consistency

   The third guy came out of nowhere

     And it wasn’t Slick

     Seriously my eyes on fifth guy

      He can appear out of thin            air

     Nice

   Whelp

 Stabbed

   Okay

 Ventress   Seriously,       did the cloak      conceal that much?

Unpleasant

  Obi-won, stop flirting

  Sorry

  Obi-won

   Seriously,         What is with     this scene?

  I’m      as       Ace       as        it      can        get

   (And not interested in my commentary becoming       *that*)

    And       this      scene        is     clearly        ship

   Like,      should     Anakin   ��   go       to         a     different       room?

 [again I’m not trying to make it]

       Okay back to the clones

        [Thank God]

         What-

        Dear frick

     [i’m not sure which was       worse]

          Fuck

    Also, Machine Gu-

     Nope

      - -

    Are the     innuendos         - -        Going          to         end?

    I’m      trying        to be a relatively      serious      reviewer

    And.... sex jokes are not my   style

  Eer-

  Right         Away       

   Sket

    Dear          frick         His       name          is       literally       Sketch

    Else

    There were-    there was one dude

    Also-  why didn’t you ask when you were in the       mess?

   We          Will

    It’s       Slick

“ I     got   nothing      to       hide ,”

  Yeah,       he      does

    Med       Droids

   Aight

 Chopper

  Seriously being last must   suck

Already throwing     sus

*Up

Chopper       doesn’t have hair!

Oh, good   done with the flirting

   My       Loyal     Informant

  Gosh     dammit   Obi-won

Anakin,        Just      wants         it     over

  Whelp

Obi-wan      doesn’t     wanna       help

   Nice  

   Cool

   Don’t   shame      the      man       for       his     hobbies      (Except        for        the      enabling         of        war        part)

    Aight

    Whelp

     What

     Geez

      Like

       That’s like       collecting metal from a        training exercise

     What??

    Didn’t Cody take a          feckin head

     Seriously,      dysfunctional      is a bit strong

    Fuck

   He was doing        arts and crafts

 At least   he fessed up

  Forbidden?

   Seriously

    What          About          Rex?

      Oh whoever took the         fecking head??

    I’m no spy

    Ack

    Now         Obi-won’s    helping

   Chopper

Slick’s    Projecting

Okay

Tell     where     you     want

 Good       Job

   Saw         You

   Whelp

   Sergeant

   Freudian         Slip

   They         Have        Missions?

   I       Mean

   Name’s        literally          Slick         (Honestly        I would’ve gone          with one          of the two            “Higher                     Ups              Here;                 Would’ve                  Gone              for               a            better             twist/               Fore           shadow-ed              the             turn            (Discontent)                Ment;                This                is            just           some         random           guy

Still      servicable

 They     really   pulled      off      the   manipulator;        Wished       they        showed      this        side          of       the      enabler’s     more

   He         Won  

   Poor        Dude

   Heck          Stalling

 Seriously     what is the plan here?

 To capture her

  To...

 Get     hit      with     the    book

 Whelp

  He   should       be   long   gone

His   shelter,     is on the other side

He’s   already   got   a   Headstart 

So,     the gun ship.   is   pretty pointless

Ha     Trap

But did they just not use their     eyes?

They were right behind     him

Did....they just se. something     in the opposite direction     and   was like   ‘yeah that’s fine’

Cause     Geez

Rex       &     Cody

Ace       Detectives    Of    Freakin      None

Whelp

I thought it was just-       A Signal lure     Nope       Was     an   actual   bomb       ...      Whelp

Okay,          ... Heck

How   fast   was   fecking   slim?

Because there’s no way   no one noticed   Bombs just sitting there      ....

Like    What...

Whelp

Damn    Slim...

Take     out     the   kitchen      sink     too?

  The     Usain       Bolt,          Of      Clones

   “He        took        out      our      weapons       depot,”

  Yeah..     

   One          Dude

   What       was        he      eating?

   Pure        Sugar?

  Whelp

   That      Sucked

   He’s      not     trying         to     escape

    You         sure?

    Pretty        sure          he       could          do         both..

    [Okay,        that’s       enough        jokes          about         his       speed,           He’s           a         fast            boi]

Make     Them

You’re   terrible   superiors

[Like   everyone      is      but      you     specifically]

“Give up Ventress,”

“ i’m all yours      Obi-Wan,”

 SERIOUSLY!

    Whelp,         Clever

  “You’ve served your purpose.]

[Can      the    innuendos      stop     please?]

    Also         what        was        the       plan       here?

    Why?

    How?

   How         do      you     know     that?

   How       do        they        know      about      that??

    What??

    What’s           the        plan,         master?

     He          spent          the           entire             time,                      flirting

      Like I’m pretty convinced there was no plan

  “My sweet,”

    You           Don’t have anything to bargain  with

    “Estimated”

   Dude, how

   You       are      literally          in         a       hole

    Hop

    Well         that         was         easy

     Cool

     “Boys”

       Err-

      (How          old         is       Anakin        again?)

       Old         enough              to     supposedly           be         groomed

      (So           Under...)

        Ew,                Just             Ew

      (Despite                 The              (Adult)         Dialogue...)

        Friends...

        Seriously

         Poor            Obi-wan...

        Aight

        “Take             Control...”

           Okay,                 I’m sorry,                my heads                 in the               gutter

             (Not by                choice!)

               Also,                  Seriously?

               You                 burned-                    like                    five                 things?

                 Sucks,                      not                    really                      world                   -ending

                  How did we get this guy??

            Seriously?

         I don’t know

      Was he the test subject for some like     speed serum?

        Slick           ran           into           the      command           center

        Why?

        Also            he’s         probably           gone

       (Boi            is           fast)

       Whelp

         That            things               tilting?                How            much            does             she-

         Okay,              Whatever

          You’re               on               that

           Whelp

            Jumping                   is                    a                        good                    idea

                 Off

                Aight

               Prepare                       to                   march                      on                       the                        city

                     Geez

                        Is                            it                           that                            dude

                             Is                                this                                  an                                  origin-                                      [I                                   don’t                                   like                                     the                                   movie;                                   nothing                                     can                                     save                                       it]

                                Delay                                    the                                     Jedi                                     ...                                     Yes                                mistress

                            Aight

                            Right

                             Heck                                     is                                 the                             octopus                               thing

      He’s   probably      gone

  Whelp

   Lock         Down

    Aight

     Shit          Sun

    Aight

A   Bunch      of   bullshit     but     cool

   I’m      not      the     traitor      you        are

   He’s      got       a     point

  Also,     see      he    could    totally    kick     his     ass      he     did         it    before

   He        HAS          A       Point

Suffering

 -Err

 Brothers

 Seriously,       Weakest        relation        ever

     Of

   Freedom

     HE      HAS            A           Point

      (A         Garbled              One]

   Bull- shit

      He sustained a lot less         hits than either of those        two

    What

    Dicks

   Seriously it seems mostly intentional     but they really are just such      dicks

  (Anakin        -What         the         frick)

      HE        HAS          A       POINT!

    Bidding

     Whim

  [seriously        why         is      Anakin        the        more...]

     I      love       my     brothers

   Dick

    ?

  Good       For       Him

     ?

     ?

     -

     -

    Oof

    Now the plans don’t really make sense

    Mainly just a rushed framing device             For the       mystery

      If you focus on that          it’s pretty good

      But the villain really         saves it

     It’s honestly     heart-wrenching

    You        really       do        feel       for       the       guy

    But         shit situation and all            (And it is a shit situation          grooming and all)      That         that        energy      should          only           be       pointed          at         the      abuser                 (And     subsequent       enablers)           And      getting         out          of         that         shit       situation

      For           your        own       benefit        and        for       others

    Including         your         own      generation          (Even          the        enablers,              Who          will             their           dues               on            case              by            case            basis)               Of        Accountability                   And                Both              You                And               They                 Deserve             better              than                  to                live                with                  an               enabler

                As                    for                     the                    future                  generation,                          Do it right                        and                     they’ll                     know                       all                      they                         have                        to                        be                      thankful                         for,                     without a word,                     personally

                    The                       way                         it                      should                        be

[csrgood]

Lab Design Techniques to Accelerate COVID Test Processing

Originally published by CRB

Testing is a crucial component of our global response to COVID-19. The more people we can test for the virus, the better we can understand the threat we’re up against.

Producing enough tests and making them available to the public is just one half of this challenge. Processing the results quickly is the other.

Before this pandemic, for example, a testing lab might process close to 5,000 samples a day; now that lab could be called on to process nearly 100,000. To cope with this significant increase and the vital need for urgency, we need to think out of the box to increase lab throughput while utilizing the current facility square footage and the same number of employees.

Even with those constraints in place, there are plenty of variables that can be adjusted and strategies that can be implemented to get more capacity out of an existing lab. Automation, optimization, and flexibility are three approaches that can help labs process tests faster, while also operating more safely.

3 ways to increase existing lab processing throughput

Before we dive into the aspects inside the lab that impact processing speed, it’s important to acknowledge that there are factors outside the lab at play, too. First, during the testing process, providers typically handwrite the test subject’s name and the date on the vial. This system can create a backlog when the samples are received at the testing center. Once the samples arrive via overnight shipping, it takes time to unpackage, sort, and validate the samples before the information is entered into the computer or tracking system. And that manual entry process can be slow and tedious. Additionally, labs that were only receiving a few thousand samples at a time might be overwhelmed receiving and storing hundreds of thousands of samples. These challenges can also be addressed with automation, optimization, and flexibility.

1. Automation

For many years, the clinical and wellness sample testing world has been moving toward automation. Companies like Abbott are using a track system, which connects all the testing machines into a single unit. As a result, samples run down these automated lines, and tests are processed based on a bar code system as needed. We even see robots deliver samples at the beginning of the line and collect these same samples for automated cold storage after testing.

The molecular testing world has not moved toward automation as quickly. Molecular testing—like the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test that detects COVID-19—requires specialized equipment to automate and process. This complicated equipment can take months to build in normal times, but possibly longer with a reduced workforce.

However, these obstacles do not rule out automation as a solution. In fact, introducing a small amount of automation can still make a big difference.

Low level of robotic animation: There’s probably a low level of automation already in every lab. This might be a small piece of equipment—sometimes no larger than a coffee machine—that automates one part of the process, like a repetitive task, such as extracting DNA from samples. Implementing one low-level piece of automation in a lab can free up the scientists significantly, allowing them to more effectively use their time and increase productivity. Another place to consider adding low-level automation is the data entry process. Digitizing the system for recording patient and sample information would free up time and personnel, and it would ensure more accurate records.

Medium level of robotic automation: A medium amount of automation typically puts a couple of processes into a contained box. So there are still manual functions in the lab, but a few repetitious tasks can be eliminated by bringing in an equipment system that addresses part of the process. This medium example takes our coffee machine turns it into a room that could be 11’x20’ in size (call it a Starbucks if you want). All the equipment associated with both pre and post PCR work can be placed on a racking system with a sliding collaborative robot arm.

High level of robotic animation: While a high-level of automation or a fully automated process might not be the most expedient or feasible solution in the current situation, it’s worth mentioning for the future. In this instance, robotic automation would conduct the entirety of test processing, even moving samples in and out. While the equipment to make this happen could be hard to come by now, it may be worth the investment to better prepare your lab for future uncertainty and fluctuations. This can create a great opportunity to have a sustainable lab with a greater reduction in air change rates.

2. Optimization

In the same way that automation eliminates certain tasks to free up the scientists, lab optimization is about finding opportunities to make little changes that unlock outsized potential. An optimization effort analyzes your lab operations, your layout and your equipment to determine where adjustments can be made to improve efficiency.

Working with a consultant here can be particularly helpful to get an outside perspective on your set up. Typically, the process looks like this:

Define Objectives/Metrics – Define objectives and determine metrics based on the objectives

E.g. the objective is to increase the throughput of test processing so the metrics would be how long it takes to process one test; how many tests are processed in an hour, a day, etc.; and even how long each component of the process takes.

Data Collection – Collect data (surveys, interviews, observations) to support the metrics

E.g. observe each part of the process, recording time, and observations about how the process is done.

Data Analysis – From the collected data the deep-dive analysis of the wants vs. needs of the users can be determined

E.g. your lab users need to do certain steps in a certain order, and they’re constrained by the space layout and equipment availability—how can the process go faster or be more efficient without negatively impacting your users?

Improvement Opportunity Identification –Identify aspects for the lab design to meet the design objectives and improve operations.

E.g. maybe it’s a matter of moving some equipment to create a more logical flow path for your personnel, or maybe the solution is introducing low-level automation to eliminate unnecessary personnel movement.

Prioritization and Opportunity Selection – Determine cost and schedule estimates to prioritize the opportunities based on operational impact vs. implementation.

E.g. compare the cost and time it will take to implement each solution against the benefit it provides to determine which solution(s) should be prioritized.

In the case of modifying your lab to increase COVID-19 test processing, it may be a matter of adjusting your personnel travel paths or bench utilization to make your lab more efficient.

3. Flexibility

The design of labs must be flexible under normal circumstances, but even more so now as testing efforts continue to ramp up and the future is unclear. For example, as we work to improve the testing process, we also need to look at the new antibody tests. Should a vaccine become available in the future, there may be other variations of testing that we will need to consider. You can make plans now to ensure your lab will continue to function optimally.

Typically, molecular testing equipment requires power, data, and compressed air. Distributing these utilities overhead with quick disconnects allows for the equipment to be reconfigured or even replaced in the future. Floor drains are usually required, and placement is critical to keep the labs safe by avoiding waste lines on the floor. The workflow should be logically organized to reduce the number of steps that employees take, as the task of processing such a large number of samples can be compounded by inefficient workflows. Lab optimization will help improve flexibility.

Regulations will be driven by CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) and BSL-2 (Biosafety Level) which is defined in the BMBL (Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories 5th Edition). It is important to note that these facilities must follow the minimum BSL-2 requirements. Standard requirements include a handwashing sink, proper finishes for decontamination, doors with locks, an emergency eyewash station, and outside air supply without recirculation, to name a few.

Other considerations

There are a few other simple things that you can do to ensure lab efficiency. For example, make sure that all the materials used by the testing facility are available on site. If items such as masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for the employees are in short supply, it can slow down the testing process.

Unlike the office workplace, labs are pre-designed to adapt to the new norm with PPE and social distancing. Many labs use 6’-0” wide tables. Aisles may need to become one-way thoroughfares similar to those in a grocery store. We can learn in these times, and hopefully, we can improve our lab spaces to prepare for any future events we may encounter.

As we learn more about COVID-19, we need to be prepared to adapt our design techniques, including how we as people interact within the laboratory space. The laboratory design world is changing, and we should consider how automation and robotics can help us keep up with the pace. We can also make simple adjustments now to optimize lab operations, and we can plan in flexibility to respond to future unknowns.

Interested in speaking to one of our lab design experts? Contact us.

source: https://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/45303-Lab-Design-Techniques-to-Accelerate-COVID-Test-Processing?tracking_source=rss

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Wyatt questions an answer (Part 11)

Wyatt @SayWhenLA... "This would also lend itself to the theory of elites wanting one world race, umbrella government, one world currency, etc. The truth is every race and ethnicity has its pros and cons,  South Koreans tend to score much higher on intel tests than say, Cubans, but Cubans are also dominating the olympics in wrestling and judo while Koreans are not. Each group of people have their pros and cons and I’m not sure what the result would be of all of us being the same. Israel- We working on ethno state. And you don't get to say a thing about it. Europe and North America- get the Kalergi Plan. Hm. When is Africa, Israel, or , etc.. getting diversity? It is literally only the white countries that need "diversity" Weird. The only real war is the war of the people with power/money/control over society vs the rest of us. All these things are designed to keep the masses pitted against each other instead of against the real controllers who really just want to keep and grow their ridiculous power. These topics will be more thoroughly discussed down road. I just have to laugh because these subjects usually get lowest RT traction even if you make decent arguments but the tweet views up WAYYY up there. So clearly many are reading but afraid to retweet lol. Understandable.  von Coudenhove plan. If ˈmäz-ləm countries like so great why leave ˈmäz-ləm countries and get mass trafficked to non ˈmäz-ləm countries and !slamophy those countries? We shouldn't be giving anything and let people hate us for free and use money to actually fix our communities. Pathetically, America's government is littered with dual citizenship dummies that call for Israel first, America distant second. We're infiltrated in many directions ofc. American Legion even called for full investigation into Israel's attack and cover-up on the USS Liberty that killed and injured 200+ US soldiers.  I literally have never heard about the USS Liberty until just last year. That is seriously some grade-a American bigotry right there. Did citizens of Israel do that? Of course not. The controllers did. See how easy this is. Vet Associations president Gallo famous for saying: “We must not forget the holocaust, however, in concert, it is equally important for the future of the United States to never forget the USS Liberty.” A cover-up that is sustained by Media spin and or failure to seek and report the facts. In a historic move, the American Legion, at its national convention in Reno on Thursday, August 24, 2017, approved Resolution 40 calling for the first full U.S. government investigation of Israel's attack on the USS Liberty. Gunnery Sergeant Lockwood (USMC, ret.) was on hand during the entire convention working for passage of the resolution. Lockwood was awarded the Silver Star for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action in connection with the unprovoked and unexpected armed attack on U.S.S. LIBERTY (AGTR-5), in the Eastern Mediterranean, on 8 June." Lockwood said there were a lot of "hand shakes, hugs, and some tears" after the vote. Wow, so many claim to "support the troops." What's going on? The American Legion's resolution brings the nation's largest veterans organization back on the side of the USS Liberty survivors, family, and supporter in calling upon the "115th United States Congress to publicly, impartially, and thoroughly investigate the attack on the USS Liberty and its aftermath." The resolution also aligns the Legion with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which, in 2013, adopted Resolution 423 at their national convention calling for the attack to be investigated. The Liberty was a U.S. Navy electronics ship operating in international waters in the eastern Mediterranean when it was attacked by Israeli forces. The ship's commander received the Congressional Medal of Honor and the crew is one of the most decorated for a single engagement in U.S. Navy history. The brave survivors deserve to see this happen before they die. When you don't have legitimate factual defense, and you are without shame and want your position to be accepted at any cost, the only thing left is lying. There have been no US investigations at all into the conduct of the Israeli forces when they attacked USS Liberty.  The Israelis have never been asked to produce evidence, nor have they been interviewed about the attack. You figure that one out. US governmental entity has never undertaken an investigation into the culpability for the attack. Also figure that one out. No agency or other institution has ever conducted a fact finding investigation into the question of why the Israeli State launched the attack and their prior knowledge that USS Liberty was a US Navy ship. No evidence Congress ever held hearings or launched an investigation. I learned about the cover-up, but I had absolutely zero idea how heavily the McCain's were involved. I hope the American public finds out the full truth about this treasonous pos. This is one war story that will never ever never get the Hollywood treatment.. So if Egypt attacked us, we would nuke them. But it was Israel, so nothing is done except to cover it up. How long has Israel been pimp slapping America? These cocksuckers have been bleeding America since 1913. This cabal been running bank of England since battle of Waterloo. Israel gives citizens a bad name. The citizens are not to blame, it is the zionist cabal that use citizens. These secret society cucks from hell created the fraudulent federal reserve...a central speculating bank that extorts usury from US citizens by taxing ever dollar printed. In other words, they print our money with zero accountability. They sell it back to us. HUH? WHAT? And to collect the extortion they created IRS. An extortion agency. Debt slavery. It was pretty brilliant. And evil. Really, really evil. For decades the traitors in the israel lobby covered up this war crime. We have let ourselves be conned. They seem to only give a damn when they need some dirty work done, no? Seems like it. Your Congress, the UK, Israel, Europe are infiltrated with this network's influence. If American machine gunned a life raft with American survivors, what do you think would happen to him/her? Israeli Pilot Jim Ennes has said "we had been surveilled all morning and part of afternoon by Israeli forces. They knew who we were. We heard them reporting over radio  And how we were sailing and where we were sailing. They saw the Flag and everything else. We were in international waters." There is no question that this attack on a U.S. Navy ship was deliberate False Flag. This was a coordinated effort involving air, sea, headquarters and commando forces attacking over a long period. It was not the "few rounds of misdirected fire" that Israel would have you believe. Worse, the Israeli excuse is a gross and detailed fabrication that disagrees entirely with the eyewitness recollections of the actual survivors who were actually there. Key American leaders call the attack deliberate. More important, eyewitness participants from the Israeli side have told survivors that they knew they were attacking an American ship. Fifteen years after the attack, an Israeli pilot approached Liberty survivors and then held extensive interviews about his role. According to this senior Israeli lead pilot, he recognized the Liberty as American immediately, so he informed his headquarters,  and was told to ignore the American flag and continue his attack. He refused to do so and returned to base, where he was arrested. Unfortunately, no one in the U.S. government had any interest in hearing these first-person accounts of Israeli treachery. Key members have long agreed that this attack was no accident. Perhaps most outspoken is former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Thomas Moorer. "I can never accept the claim that this was a mistaken attack," he insists. Yet Israel and its blind defenders continue to stand by their claim that the attack was a "tragic accident" in which Israel mistook the most modern electronic surveillance vessel in the world for a rusted-out 40-year-old Egyptian horse transport. Why lie if innocent? Despite the evidence, no U.S. administration has ever found the courage to ever found the courage to defy the Israeli lobby by publicly demanding a proper accounting from Israel. Instead of determining whether the attack was deliberate, the Navy blocked all testimony No survivor was permitted to describe the close in machine-gun fire that continued for 40 minutes after Israel straight up claims all firing stopped. No survivor was allowed to talk about the life rafts the Israeli torpedo men machine-gunned in the water. No survivor was permitted to challenge defects and fabrications. Eyewitness testimony as officer-of-the deck was withheld from record. No evidence of Israeli culpability "found" because no such testimony was allowed. To survivors, this was not an investigation. It was a cover-up. Such a disgrace the way our Servicemen have been treated. My heart goes out to all of the Servicemen and their families which continue to be betrayed by the US Government for the benefit of the cabal. The Liberty sent out a Mayday when they could, as their communications were jammed before the missiles started flying in, then the jamming ceased as the missiles were launched and was the only time their communications could go out. An American aircraft carrier a good distance away picked up the Mayday signal and launched some of their planes. When LBJ heard of the planes being launched, he got on the radio or phone to the Admiral of the carrier and told him to recall those planes back to the carrier. So the false flag was between Israel and LBJ (who was also sleeping with Mossad Spy) for the Israelis to sink the Liberty, as the Israeli planes didn't have markings, so Egypt would be blamed and America would come into the war and, Israel and America would share spoils of war. Evil has no boundaries, makes no difference whether it's a Democrat or Republican administration. Or what they identify as. Our country totally infiltrated and the people we voted to run it are bigger crooks than the ones they blame everything on and are allies are not so. USS Liberty Commander David Ed Lewis spoke during the USS LIBERTY’s 50th reunion regarding “idiots in Washington” and the president who set the precedent of failing to support the crew of the USS LIBERTY: “Not only did they die, their families also paid a price. One widow went over the edge and the state took her kids away. Some of my men were threatened with being put in a mental institution if they spoke out. None of us had any contact with the other until the first reunion of the LIBERTY twenty years after the attack. Everybody was assigned to different duty stations to keep us apart… “That morning I saw a couple of the Israeli over flights, we waved at each other. We all felt safe, as they were friends. I was back in my general quarter’s station two levels down when I heard the thud-thud-thud of the rockets overhead, but they never penetrated the bowels of the ship. “It was such a well planned accident. They took out just about every antenna we had. All of them were knocked out except for one that never worked right. It was also the first satellite communications in the U.S.A. It leaked hydrolic fluid but when it worked right, it bounced off the moon. “The torpedo explosion happened less than ten feet from where I stood and blew out the bulkhead and covered me with twenty years of navy paint. All the troops within twenty feet of me were killed instantly. The bulkhead protected me as a shield from the blast. “I shouldn’t have even survived. I was on the second level down and the compartment was sealed. Seamen Shnell broke regulations and saved my life. It’s against regulations to break watertight integrity, but he took the risk of sinking the ship to check for survivors. I really cant believe I just learned about this last year. Unbelievable. It wasn't a mistake. It was very deliberate and strategic planned attack. Extremely relevant today. It was a false flag operation to get US to do Israels bidding in the Middle East.   Unarmed ship. They were defenseless. Israel jammed their radio transmissions so they couldn't call for help. They jammed both their tactical frequencies and their distress frequencies, which is against international law. After raining down several machine gun runs, destroying antennas and such, they bombed it with napalm. Two Israeli ships approached and communicated with the pilots discussing who was going to finish her off. Oh yes, they did. And oh did they. When our boys tried to escape the burning ship on life boats, Israeli Navy opened hell-fire on the lifeboats with .50 machine guns.  Next, the Navy moved in and circled the wounded ship and hammered it with torpedos. Wow. The ship was finally able to get a distress signal out to american ship after a crew member was able to wire a makeshift antenna in hopes to signal help. Israel intercepted the calls, listened in, then immediately stopped bombing in fear of retaliation. They THEN claimed it was all just a terrible mistake. Despite the massive cover-up and lies.  Word must have traveled quick. President Johnson personally demanded that the retaliation fighters immediately cease and called them off. President Johnson said he didn't give a damn if the ship sunk, he would not embarrass muh greatest allies. The mockingbird media barely mentioned it, calling it a "friendly fire incident". The Johnson Administration discussed sinking the ship so it couldn't be photographed. Why? The survivors were told to never tell anyone about it, including family. NSA kept eye on the crew to make sure they didn't tell anyone. Israel planted stories in the media and threatened anyone that leaked it with cries of anti-semetism. Completely meaningless term. They've turned it into a joke. If I hear someone get called antisemite, I automatically assume they were just speaking truth and the other person is hysterical idiot. Inquiries were shut down, testimonies were erased. For decades those involved in the coverup lied about what happened. Israel used unmarked jets and tried to ensure their were no survivors on a ship they were CERTAIN was an American ship. Had the USS Liberty not had been able to get that one SOS call out, they would have sunk the ship and blamed it on Egypt, forcing us to bomb their enemies in the Middle East. Hm. With allies like Israel, who needs enemies? USS Liberty, Lavon Affair, Apollo Affair, celebrating 9/11 and saying would be good and benefit the state of Israel. Yeah not the company I would be wanting to keep. It is literally mind control slavery. Blind conservs so damn cringey. Seriously smd. This is all new to me and I'm trying to make sense of it all. I actually care about this stuff and take it seriously, unlike you. Our brave men got hung out to dry. Anyone in US military should understand that nothing really has changed. Israel literally almost got US puppet to set off WW3 by nuking Egypt. I think that's pretty f'n important.There were bombers ready to nuke Cairo. They don't mention Israel was machine gunning 850 Egyptian P.O.W.s right near where attack on Liberty took place. JFK blocked Israel from getting nukes. LBJ let them get nukes. Sad truth is LBJ conspired with Israel to attack and sink the Liberty. When it wouldn't sink, the cover-up began. I believe Johnson stated: "I want that sucker on the bottom"! (Speaking of sinking The Liberty) U.S.S. Liberty is just the start , Israel's list of crimes are long. And U.S. taxpayer funded. One thing went terribly wrong for Johnson's plan that day. The Liberty refused to sink. Some of men on U.S.S. Liberty believe it was the hand of God which saved the ship that day. It's historical blind spot. the internet is the only place it exists. Our history books aren't worth the paper they are written on! Israel did its absolute best to kill all US personal on board and sink this ship and blame a country that had nothing to do with it. Disgusting. To this day Israel is egging on the USA to fight their wars.  Constantly trying to provoke and get us into a war with Iran so more American kids can die for them.  And USA give billions, one of prosperous nations in ME, every year in name of foreign aid? What is wrong with y'all. Israel is evil country that kill their own allies. Saudi Arabia is same level and right next to Israel. What's even more obscene is that some high ups wanted to sink the Liberty so that the public wouldn't "turn against" israel. Smfh. We really are just numbers to them. The USA seems to care more about their 'relations' to Israel than they care about their OWN soldiers and citizens. Fact!! Most politicians are blackmailed. "Do my bidding until you die" type scenarios. Maniupulators of Israel, & their AIPAC power lobby influence America. but the American citizen thinks they have independent country and love to talk about sovereignty all the time. Too funny. American politicians sold off their country and its citizens. If this attack would have been done by any other country. think about Russians if they have had did in the same way directly to any US Ship. There would have been a third world war. That was the idea, chief.  The mayday they got out spoiled the plan. Just imagine. Good lord. How could this be covered up so well? This is all very new to me and I know it is new for many of you because I see your messages. And I'm a curious muthafucka. I guess when you dominate media it’s easy to cover things up and therefore shape the perceptions of the entire nation. You are gross. Very dense, intellectually dishonest or patent liar. And I would tell that to your face. Chairman of Joint CoS/generals., admirals and high ranking military officers came to one conclusion, IT Israel keeps America on a leash. Poor Americans!  It'll be a great day when the Israeli and American citizens wake up to all this disgusting propaganda and manipulation.Don't forget, 'the lavon affair' was an earlier operation by america's ally 13 years before. Nothing new. This is such bull Sh.. just like the Gulf-war and weapons of mass destruction. All NWO Puppets need to be imprisoned. Our own President L.B. Johnson was living, infiltrating traitor. He called back the fighters that would have saved countless lives. When will America wake up?? Israel paid $3.3M to families. LOL.  $97k each.  Utterly shameful. Still have gall to lie about it.  Blood money.  Israel was actually paying victim's families with money taken from American Taxpayers.  US aid to Israel TRIPLED in year following the FFattack on the USS Liberty. Low RT's on this very well needed discussion but 260k views on single tweet within 3 hours and climbing lmao. Hmm. Almost like people are getting it and getting mega curious but still afraid to hit that RT button. Please, take your time. Research. Think for yourself. To truly make sense of it, you need to see the historical pattern and realize that the same elite mafia forces are behind numerous false flag attacks. With that in mind, Let's look at these 5 historical false flags attacks: Quick side note: after explaining the obvious multiple times and separating the satanic manipulators from regular, normal citizens - it seems there are still grade-a imbeciles in my mentions. Let's make one thing very clear. Yes, just as NOT all whites are members of the KKK, NOT all Jews are Zionists. It's too bad we need to always say this. When we say that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, no one says - well not all Japanese are responsible for bombing Pearl Harbor! Like no shit you absolute idiot But if you talk about Zionist crimes, people have been systemically programmed to think, oh no this subject is only talked about by Jew haters. Defense! Defense! So of course, we need to clearly say that the crimes of Zionists have nothing to do with the good Jews as a whole. Some people are asking, what's a Zionist? Good question. Different people have different definitions. It's OKAY to disagree. Ain't a crime. (Yet!) > Baptists, Congregationalists, Pentecostals, Mormons, etc  Another thing to note is that they usually don't like to call themselves "Christian Zionists". They often call themselves "Dispensationalist" To tell if Christian Zionist, ask them..."Do you believe that the modern state of Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy?"  If they say yes, then they are Christian Zionists. Christian Zionists are the stupidest of all (no offense, really), total embarrassment. Traditional Christians believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. and the Euphrates river (in Iraq) to the Jews.  And they believe that God blesses anyone who helps Jews and punishes anyone who opposes Jews for any reason yada yada. Christian Zionism was started with creation of a special version of the bible called the Scofield Bible. Since Christian Zionist believe in a version of religion that basically makes them servants to Jews (total idiots), there's a lot of speculation as to who would have funded the creation of the Scofield Bible and who funded the development of Christian Zionist Churches. Another definition might be that a Zionist is anyone who believes that Jews are superior to gentiles. Lots of Jews these days are not religious believers, so most Zionists are believers in Jewish racial supremacy. But of course, there are Zionist who are religious as well. For those Zionists, they are both racial supremacist and religious supremacist. Then there's the generic definition of Zionist which is simply someone who supports the idea that the state of Israel should continue to exist as a racist ethno-state that exist solely for the purpose of serving the Jewish people. Recently Israel passed a law stating just that, that . There was very little notice in the mass media. Of course, if any other country had done the same thing the media would have gone crazy. Some people think passing this law may be prelude to more Israel ethnically cleaning. they are cleansing Palestinians little by little; murdering their women and children every day and boxing them in more and more. This issue with Zionism and Israel, not regular Jewish people. If you are unable to objectively discuss the racial supremacist behavior of a particular racial group without starting to draw childish hate, then that's your problem.  You should probably seek therapy to try to get to the source of your issue. Meanwhile the adults will discuss, without fear, the potential racial supremacist behavior of any racial group, and what, if anything, can be done to counteract it.  

Wyatt @SayWhenLA    

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Venezuela and Iran in the Crosshairs of Murderers Inc – Who is Next?

by Peter Koenig for Ooduarere via The Saker blog

Imagine just for a moment, the World would stand up in unison, sick and tired of the aggressive killer arrogance of the United States and her vassals – and their joint war-force called NATO – and this World, our World, what’s left of it when you deduct Washington and its Brussels allies, would at once block every shipment of everything destined for the ports of the United States of America; every sea port, airport and road port. Hermetically. Nothing would enter. Nothing, no food, no medicine, no electronics, no cars – no nothing. And nothing could leave. No exports, no petrol, no grains, no meat, no pharmaceuticals and foremost, no weapons. Nothing.

And now, take your mind a step further – and imagine the same – exactly the same, a total and full blockage of Israel – nothing would enter, no food, no fuel, no medication, no machinery and especially no weapons – and nothing would leave; a full and total blockage.

This would of course be totally illegal; illegal and unacceptable, by any international law, by the standards of the UN Charter, by the Human Rights Laws and Directives – by any ethical values of human morals. Wouldn’t it? – Yet, this is exactly what these countries are doing, have been doing for decades, sanctioning to strangle and murder entire populations into death or submission. The US with Cuba; Israel with Palestine. And the coercion and strangulation go on, unabated.

The longest embargo – illegal, inhuman and outright criminal – Washington imposed on Cuba – 60 years. Because Cuba has chosen socialism as her form of state and government. Cuba survived and will never give in to the tyrant of the north.

Now the US is expanding her palette of killing by impunity to dominate and subjugate nation after nation which they do not consider bending sufficiently to the dictate of their masters. Venezuela has been targeted for two decades, ever since former President Hugo Chavez was democratically elected in 1998; and Iran, ever since the US-imposed Shah was deposed in 1979 – exactly 40 years ago – by Iran’s Islamic Revolution. Both Venezuela and Iran are rich in natural resources, especially hydrocarbons but also in gold, rare earths and other precious metals and stones.

Contrary to what one would like to imagine, international world bodies, like the United Nations and her sister and associated organizations remain just about silent. When a high-level official utters some benign criticism of the US or Israel – it flairs up for a moment in the ‘news’, then it disappears again, as if it never happened. And indeed, nothing happens. They – the US and Israel – go on with their crimes in impunity.

The latest is an open declaration of economic warfare by Washington, a total embargo on Venezuela; the embargo is now being turned into a naval blockade. Similar steps are to be taken for Iran. That literally means that no merchandise – no matter how vital for survival, like food and medication, is allowed into Venezuela. Three days ago, the US seized, totally illegally, a cargo ship attempting to deliver food and medication to Venezuela – in the Panama Canal, territory which the US does not own or control anymore.

The ship was carrying soy cakes, from which Venezuela was to produce food. Never mind, that the cargoes are fully paid for by Venezuela. And this seems to be just the beginning. Vessels leaving Venezuela with petrol deliveries to client countries are also targeted for blockage, thus confiscating, or rather stealing, Venezuela’s main source of income on which she intends to survive and feed and provide health care for her people. This, in addition to the more than 130 billion dollars total Venezuelan assets confiscated – stolen – by the US worldwide .

And nobody says beep. Almost. Yes, there are some collective protests by countries in solidarity – like key members of the Sao Paulo Forum, as well as more than 60 members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM – total 120 members) that have become especially active in recent years in defense of Venezuela within the United Nations. Protests and protest declarations also take place by ALBA members, a Latin American trade alliance (ALBA – Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, 11 members [Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, Ecuador, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Grenada and the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis]).

But most interesting are the hypocrites, those who write and scream that Venezuelans are starving to death, that the Maduro government neglects its people – yet these accusers-in-falsehood – let the US and her vassals strangle Venezuela and steal her foreign assets, including foreign reserves and gold, food and medical imports – they are saying zilch, nada, nothing. Just watching.

To top it all off, the Human Rights Commissioner, Madame Michelle Bachelet, Hypocrite-in-chief, who recently visited Venezuela, at the invitation of President Nicolas Maduro, on a Human Rights mission, and who delivered a devastating report about Venezuela’s HR, full of lies, half-truths and outright omissions, not mentioning with one word the US inspired coup attempts, the US-funded opposition and its bloody atrocities on the Chavista population, and the strangulating and starving by the US and US-dictated European sanctions – Madame Bachelet now came forward condemning the naval blockade. Great. But she did not stand up against the deadly embargo by the US and the European Union. – What credibility remains for the Human Rights Commission? – The world can see it – it’s all bought, coerced into submission, like so many other UN agencies by the Murderers Inc.

If we are not careful, they are soon going to rule the globe. Thanks god, for Russia and China – which are also subjects of US-EU sanctioning and targeted for take-over. But they are a tiny little bit too big and too strong for this sort of games by the decaying US empire and her obedient rats on the sinking ship.

Similarly, the European Union – despots as they have been for hundreds of years as colonialists in Africa, Asia and Latin America – and continue in a modern colonial role through economic control of much of Africa – this very EU, has been sanctioning Venezuela for years on the orders of Washington, naturally, who else? – Now they condemn the naval blockade, but continue their routine sanctions regime.

According to a study carried out by the Washington DC based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), under guidance of Mark Weisbrot, CEPR co-director and Jeffrey Sachs, economics professor, Director, Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University, New York, US and EU sanctions have cost some 40,000 Venezuelan lives. This mainly since August 2017, when Washington escalated its unilateral coercive measures against Venezuela and her state oil company, PDVSA, cutting them off international financial markets.

Yes, the world would have plenty of reasons to stand up and dish out similar naval and air blockades against the US and Israel. Just as a teaser to begin with, and if that doesn’t send a strong enough wake-up message, perhaps such embargoes should be considered on a longer-term indefinite scale. It’s illegal. But we are living in a world where international laws don’t count – where laws are made, as we go, by the self-declared hegemon, the US of A, and her symbiotic Middle East ally, Israel. – So, why not nudging the legal, moral and ethical order back into balance?

Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a water resources and environmental specialist. He worked for over 30 years with the World Bank and the World Health Organization around the world in the fields of environment and water. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for Global Research; ICH; RT; Sputnik; PressTV; The 21st Century; TeleSUR; The Saker Blog, the New Eastern Outlook (NEO); and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe. He is also a co-author of The World Order and Revolution! – Essays from the Resistance.  Peter Koenig is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.